


In a Jam

by incaseyoufic



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universe, Biting, Keith is a mechanic, Lance has a PhD, M/M, Modern Setting, Modern Universe, One Shot, Smut, Strangers to Friends to Lovers, bc I want some representation, klance, like late twenties, massaging leads to other things, non-binary Pidge, older keith and lance, only one room left in the motel trope
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-05
Updated: 2018-12-05
Packaged: 2019-08-27 22:33:46
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 20,353
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16711306
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/incaseyoufic/pseuds/incaseyoufic
Summary: Lance gets stuck in the worst traffic jam ever. Luckily, it's made interesting by a certain mullet-sporting motorcyclist.





	In a Jam

**Author's Note:**

> This fic was inspired by true events. It was conceptualized in July during a very annoying and long 3-hour traffic jam on the 401 from Toronto to Ottawa (coming back from Dan and Phil’s Interactive Introverts show, which was amazing!). I was luckily stuck in this jam with two very nerdy Klance shippers, so obviously with nothing better to do we made up an entire story. I think at one point we saw a motorcyclist breeze through some cars and we were like BAM that’s Keith. And then the rest practically wrote itself :P 
> 
> I neither speak Spanish nor do I live in Miami. I used Google translate for the Spanish (see the end for translations to English), and Google Maps for locations. If anything is incorrect, that is why. Feel free to leave comments and I’ll make any necessary changes. Enjoy!
> 
> Beta’d by said Klance nerds: my1alias and Gilove2dance

Lance glanced down at his phone and frowned.

 

_Damn_. He wasn’t going to make it in time.

 

On the maps app he had open, his sweet navigation tool bringing him home to his family in Miami, the route ahead of him was coloured red and – _black?!_ In all his ten years of driving, he had _never_ seen congestion so bad that it was represented with black.

****

There were a few intimidating exclamation marks and little icons indicating construction along Florida’s Turnpike, and probably a few other warnings too, surrounding the 16 miles or so of road ahead.  Taking his eyes off the road – the blessedly clear road ahead of him – he tapped on the congestion icon on his phone. A little note appeared:

 

_Expect a 2-hour delay in 100 miles._

 

Lance groaned out loud, his hands clenching the wheel. He was only 190 miles away from his home and freedom from this paved hell. He could have been home in three hours! And he was in the middle of goddamn nowhere too, surrounded by farmland.

 

“Two hours?! Goddamnit,” he mumbled. He didn’t really believe what his phone was telling him. The highway ahead of him was so clear, so light of traffic. So far, his road trip from New York City to his family home in Miami had gone extremely well – _maybe too well, and now this was the universe ending his good luck –_ but also maybe his phone was lying? Yeah. The satellite-fed map app clearly didn’t know what it was talking about.

  
Still though, Lance felt a bit uneasy, even with the comforting sounds of T-Swift blasting from his trusty speakers. He glanced down at the gas meter – ¾ tank full, good – he didn’t think there was another exit for a while anyways.

 

He chuckled to himself and shook his head, totally denying the claim that his phone was making.

 

Two hours? Ridiculous.

 

~~

 

The wall of traffic happened very quickly. One minute he was cruising with Blue at a decent clip of 60 miles an hour, and then all of a sudden – 0. Nothing. Nada. Every second vehicle seemed like it was a gigantic 18-wheeler (Lance liked to think of the trucks as whales, and the cars as fish – it made driving more fun), mechanically spewing exhaust into the already stuffy July air. He craned his head through the window of his seat, trying to gauge just how far ahead the traffic continued, ignoring the free-flowing lanes of the oncoming traffic stream.

There was... no end to it. Literally, it went on for as far as he could see.

 

Lance narrowed his eyes at his phone. Well played, Google maps. _Well. Played._

He sighed, quickly accepting defeat to the traffic – still hoping sincerely that the whole situation wasn’t really going to last the full two hours – and increased the volume a bit on Shakira. His fingers tapped out the rhythm on the plastic steering wheel, humming along.

 

In probably ten minutes, he’d moved about 100 feet.

 

In another five minutes, Lance wanted to… not _die,_ exactly, but – escape? Not be in his truck anymore? He didn’t even know.

 

Eventually, the traffic came to a full and completely dead stop – no movement whatsoever. His hands flew off the wheel in frustration.

 

“OH COME ON!” All around him there were people honking their horns, heads impatiently poking out of driver’s windows. After a minute of stalling, Lance accepted his fate, put his truck in park and shut it off. No sense in wasting gas just idling.

 

Behind Lance a few moments later came a smooth rumbling – the sound of a machine moving and _actually making progress_ – and the sound was so shocking that he immediately stuck his head out the window, wide eyes searching.

 

A striking red motorbike was navigating fluidly through the cars, and Lance felt such a strong feeling of envy that he gasped out loud.

 

As the biker approached Lance’s truck, Lance had the chance to observe the rider – sleek black helmet with yellow stripes up the side, red coat that was cropped weirdly short, underneath a black back-pack, black leather pants, and mid-calf height red and black boots – Lance could appreciate that the rider had style, but like, from the 80s. Probably some old dude –

 

The rider was on par with Lance now, and they made eye contact – and nope, nopity _nope_ , this dude was not some old guy riding a sleek bike – the guy’s eyes were young, maybe shadowed a bit by some black bangs falling into them – and showing just as much frustration as Lance was feeling.

 

And then, the rider _smirked._

 

Lance gasped in outrage, frustrated beyond belief that this – _complete stranger –_ was not only gaining progress in this ridiculous traffic jam (and Lance was not the only one to notice this – drivers all around him were turning their heads to openly glare at the accomplished biker), but he had the gall to rub it in Lance’s face?!

 

Oh it was _ON_.

 

Lance’s retribution came swiftly, and then it was his turn to smirk, as not even twenty feet later, the rider had to stop in his tracks, unable to navigate between two huge trucks.

 

“Hah, take that, _jerk_ ,” Lance mumbled.

 

Miraculously, the traffic started to move just slightly. Cars all around him started to wake up, engines starting, like they were all in a huge mass movement. Lance turned the key and pet his dashboard. “Okay Blue, let’s gain some tracks!”

 

The gain was a sad fifteen feet. The gigantic trucks ahead of him barely moved, the brake lights off for maybe one second. Lance wanted to hit something.

 

It was his turn to smirk when he saw that the biker had not made _any_ progress whatsoever – the length of the trucks too great for the rider to feel comfortable moving forward. The front of Lance’s F150 was almost kissing the rear wheel of the bike. His window was down and he was sorely tempted to shout something at the over-confident rider, but – no, Lance was better than that. He _was_.

 

The rider turned his head slightly, helmet glinting in the summer sun, and yet again he made eye contact with Lance. He crooked his head to the side and raised an eyebrow.

 

Lance’s head jutted forward and he raised both his hands up, answering the dude’s silent communication with a “ _what the fuck do you want from me?”_

 

The rider’s shoulders raised up quickly and then lowered as if he’d snorted in derision, and he shook his head, turning his attention back to the stalled traffic in front of him.

 

Lance rolled his eyes and turned up the volume on his speakers. The goddess Beyoncé was now serenading his ears. _Aaaaah, perfect._

 

The biker’s head turned back to Lance, his face in a _“are you serious?”_ expression.

 

Lance gasped loudly and brought a hand to his heart. “Hell yeah I’m serious!”

 

He saw the biker’s eyes widen, because Lance realized then that he’d totally shouted that, and the biker had obviously heard him. The biker’s eyes crinkled with mirth, mouth splitting into a grin, which Lance absolutely refused to admit was cute. _But damnit it was cute._

 

Before Lance could shout something else, the traffic moved up again. One truck pulled slightly ahead of the other, and the biker took his chance, veering off into the not-so-far distance.

 

Lance frowned, suddenly feeling a bit lonely.

 

Which was _absolutely ridiculous, what the actual fuck._

 

He didn’t even know the dude! Okay, so he’d had a bonding moment with some random guy on a motorcycle, on a jammed up highway near Miami. Big deal. Traffic buddies, right? Cool.

 

Three Shakira songs later, and Lance has moved another fifty feet. The clock on his dash indicated that a slow thirty minutes have passed. He sighed loudly, a tight feeling of stress coiling in his gut. He was _definitely_ not going to make it in time now. His truck was off, no movement on the road, so he figured now would be as good as time as any to call his family. He glanced for a second outside, seeing that Mr. Biker was up ahead about 100 feet. _Jerk_.

 

Two rings played before the soothing sound of Lance’s mother answered.

 

“Lancito! Que esta mal?”

 

Ah yes, Lance had forgotten that his mother had a weird sixth sense, able to sense his mood before he’d even opened his mouth to reply.

 

“Ah, mama, I don’t think I’ll make it in time for the dinner – “

 

“What happened? Are you okay?!”

 

Lance waved his hands in the air, calming down the image of his frantic mother.

 

“Si si, estoy bien! Ah, there is a huge traffic jam on the highway – a two-hour delay, my maps say, and yeah, it’s totally not lying about that.”

 

“Do you have water? Snacks? Are you going to be okay by yourself?”

 

“Don’t worry about me, I’m fine! I got my tunes! And yeah I snagged a few granola bars from the campus store before I left.” He didn’t mention that the bars had probably melted in the summer heat. Maybe they’d still be edible?

 

He heard his mother tell some loud voices near her to shush and he smiled, a flutter of excitement at the thought of seeing his family soon. “Okay, we’ll keep an eye on everything here on our end. Cuidate!”

 

“Gracias! Te veo pronto!”

 

Sighing yet again (seriously, he was starting to sound like an old man), Lance put his hands back on the wheel. And then realized that the gesture was as useless as turning his car back on, because the traffic still. Had not. Budged.

 

Except for motorbike dude. Lance couldn’t even see the guy anymore – he’d probably escaped the jam already, damn him. _At least he’d made things interesting for a bit._

 

Miraculously, the brake lights in front of him turned off and he actually cried out in joy as he fired up his truck. And it wasn’t just ten or twenty feet gained this time, _oh no baby,_ it was like, one hundred feet – it felt like Christmas. Looking up ahead, Lance quickly figured out why everyone had gained so much distance, and his heart plummeted a bit – it was because people were making illegal U-turns on a rare paved area bridging together the two directions of highway. So really, the jam hadn’t really made progress; people had just escaped. Lance was sorely tempted to follow, but… the big red “authorized vehicles only” sign made the whole manoeuvre feel not worth it. No, he would stubbornly stick this out. Plus, he really _hated_ back-tracking. Such a waste of gas and time.

 

Strangely, Lance was a bit relieved that he had not seen Biker dude make the U-turn. Lance wondered how far up he was.

 

He didn’t have to wonder for long, as yet again, Lance somehow came to be on par with the Red Rider (Lance was nearly dying of boredom and thinking of ridiculous nicknames was saving his sanity). Ah, two huge trucks again were blocking any progress.

 

Lance realized that he was trying almost _too hard_ to catch the biker’s eyes, if only to return his earlier smirk. Frustratingly, Lance was _just_ slightly behind the biker, eyes boring a telepathic hole into the back of his black and yellow helmet.

 

After a minute, said helmet turned slightly. Purple eyes met blue. Biker’s eyebrows raised, as if to say “ _what?”._ Lance shrugged at him. Biker rolled his eyes and turned his attention back to the road.

 

Lance thought for a second how Helmet Head must be sweating beneath his leather coat and pants. He himself was sweating in his truck in just a tank top and jean shorts – ol’ Blue was trusty in every way except for her air conditioner, it seemed. He’d have to get that fixed soon…

 

Everyone inched a few feet forward. Lance felt a drop of sweat slide down the back of his neck. Biker guy’s shoulders tensed up as he observed the slowly widening gap between the two trucks in front of him. Lance held his breath as the Biker kicked his bike into gear, taking his chance. He sped off yet again. Lance sighed. Again.

 

The rider and the truck driver maintained this extremely slow traffic – what, dance? Bond? Shuffle? – for another _goddamn hour –_ Lance making eye contact with the perturbed rider, both enjoying the distraction from the mundane waste of time that was this paved hell, and frustrated at himself that he actually maybe kind of wanted to legitimately get to know this mystery biker dude.

 

The next time Lance spotted the biker, the guy was pulled off to the side of the road. Lance’s first thought was that the biker maybe had to take a piss, and he felt pity, as there were literally hundreds of people surrounding him. But hey, a guy’s got needs.

 

It quickly became clear that the Biker had run out of gas or broken down, and was stranded on the side of the road. Without even questioning losing his place in traffic, Lance pulled off as well. He shut off his truck. The biker stood with his arms crossed, leaning against his bike, helmet still on for some reason, backpack sat on the ground, looking absolutely pissed at himself, from what Lance could tell.

 

Heart hammering slightly in his chest, Lance hopped out of his truck. He exhaled in relief, his lanky legs finally getting a chance to properly stretch. God, he’d missed not sitting.

 

He waved at Rider Dude. “Uh, hey, need some help?”

 

There was a beat of silence as the biker eyed Lance up and down, making Lance immediately feel self-conscious, because yeah, he’d been riding in a truck for over two hours without any air conditioning. He had major knee sweat game happening and just generally felt gross.

 

Biker dude removed his helmet, shaking out his hair and –

 

Holy shit, was that a freaking _mullet?_ Lance bit his lip to not laugh at loud. Biker guy missed nothing. He rolled his eyes again, possibly used to getting that kind of reaction to his extremely out-dated hairstyle. Lance could almost forgive the hair though, because damn, the biker was _very_ attractive. Messy black hair in his face, literally purple eyes, a slightly pointy face – Lance was going to guess Asian - _crap, I’m totally staring._

 

He cleared his throat. “Did you break down?” Lance stepped closer to peer at the bike. The rider stepped more in front of it, as if to protect it, and Lance backed off a pace, hands raised in front of his chest.

 

“No, I ran out of gas. Somehow.” The last word was said in more of a concerned mumble he huffed in frustration and glanced at his bike, as if wondering how it could betray him so.

 

_And of course, his voice is nice too. Damn._ Lance fully looked at the bike and whistled low. “I hadn’t gotten a good look at it yet, it’s super nice!”

 

Biker guy flushed slightly – or maybe his face was suddenly getting sunburnt, who knew – and shrugged. “Thanks.”

 

They both stood there for a second, just staring at the all the vehicles still stuck in the Jam of the Century.

 

“This is pretty ridiculous, huh?” Lance commented. He saw a little kid wave at them from the SUV slowly inching by and laughed, waving back.

 

“Yup,” biker replied shortly.

 

Lance raised an eyebrow. _Ah, a man of many words._

 

He clapped his hands together, making the biker jolt, eyes shooting to Lance. “So like, I can give you a ride if you want?” He gestured from the motorbike to his F150, pointing at the empty truck bed. “We could put the bike on the bed?”

 

There was a flash of hope in the guy’s eyes (seriously, _how are they purple, what the fuck_ ) as he absorbed Lance’s words. He didn’t answer though, simply standing there and eyeing Lance’s truck, as if he vehicle couldn’t handle both his bike _and_ an additional passenger.

 

Lance gasped dramatically, offended. “Do not underestimate ol’ Blue here!” He slumped against his truck, petting it lovingly. “She and I go way back! Never failed me once!”

 

“Hey, I wasn’t – “ Biker guy huffed in frustration, shoulders tense. They lowered and he sighed, accepting that Lance’s suggestion was his only option, as opposed to hitch-hiking with some _other_ complete stranger. “Are you sure? I mean, how are we even gonna get it on your truck?”

 

Lance replied with a confident smile, turned to the highway, and started flailing his arms wildly.

 

The biker watched, amused, as the tall lanky guy immediately caught the attention of a few drivers. The traffic jam hadn’t really progressed in the last few minutes, making it a good time for a few people to hop out of their vehicles. Two middle-aged men, a woman, and a younger boy walked over to them.

 

“Broken down?” One of the men asked, eyeing the bike.

 

“Nah! My friend here ran out of gas.” The biker raised a brow at the word “friend”. Is that all it took for this guy? “Could you help us get it up to the bed of the truck?”

 

“Smart! Yeah,” the woman nodded. “Do you have a ramp or something?”

 

Lance bit his lip, looking uncertain. “Hmm, I think so? Lemme check!” He made his way to the bed of the truck, dropping down the rear gate.

 

The other helpers started walking towards the bike. The owner tried not to bristle in defense. They were just here to help, not steal his beloved bike that he’d made with his bare hands.

 

After a minute of the biker just – standing there, awkward and trying not to make eye contact – Lance emerged from his truck, crying out triumphantly.

 

“Yes!! I left the ramp in the bed! Sweet,” Lance smiled. He grabbed the metal ramp, hopped down, and set it up on the edge of the flap.

 

It took them five minutes of Lance coordinating the group of people to manoeuvre the bike on the truck. Within that time several other people had stopped to help, seeing the group struggle a bit in the beginning. Lance thanked them all profusely, the biker nodding gratefully in their direction. 

 

“Whew! That worked up a thirst! Thankfully I still got some water,” Lance said, wiping at his brow. They were sat in the truck, the biker in the passenger seat, curiously eyeing the interior of the blue Ford.

 

“Uh, thanks, I really appreciate this,” he dead-panned.

 

“Geez man, no need to sound so defeated. It happens, yeah?”

 

_But not to me…_ Keith fumed internally.

 

“Do you want some water? Also you can like, take off your coat, so you don’t die on me, with the AC being broken. Sorry about that.” Lance handed over his water bottle, sincerely hoping the guy wouldn’t just chug the whole thing. He only had one more bottle in the back – a blue Gatorade – and according to the map displayed on his phone, they would be stuck in this purgatory for a while yet. They were almost halfway through it though – _small miracles._

 

His new passenger accepted the offered bottled water, nodding his thanks. Lance watched as he took three sips, and then wiped his mouth with gloved hands – _fingerless gloves –_ Lance was internally panicking. He had just picked up a total stranger who was incredibly hot, goddamn what was wrong with him. He had no idea who this guy was – he didn’t even know his name!

 

“What’s your name?” Lance asked, taking back the water.

 

Before answering, the biker did as Lance suggested and removed his white and red shrug coat, putting it on a box behind his seat.

 

_Well fuck me,_ Lance moaned internally. The removal of the coat had revealed a tight V-neck short-sleeve black shirt, tight-fitting and looking damp with sweat. How the hell the guy did not smell bad was a complete mystery to Lance. Lance watched as the guy pulled a hair elastic off his wrist, held it in his teeth, and then watched as dextrous fingers pulled the mullet into a small pony-tail. _Oh dios mio mierde que demonios –_

Lance realized too late that he had been staring, and that the guy had said something. And also that the temperature inside the truck had raised to like, a bajillion degrees, because otherwise why would Lance be sweating so much? He ignored the fact that the windows were open, letting in rather pleasant breeze.

 

He nearly ejected himself through the truck’s roof when a horn honked at him. Neither driver nor passenger had noticed that there was a blessed space of about fifty feet ahead of them. Lance quickly turned the truck on, shifting into drive. Lance privately appreciated past-Lance having turned down his radio so that the few seconds of Shakira had not suddenly scared the stranger out of the car (Lance was getting mad MCR vibes from him). He closed the gap, turned off the car, accepting the pattern of the last hour or so. 

 

“Sorry, what?” God he was such an idiot. _An easy, easy idiot_.

 

“I said, my name is Keith,” Keith repeated, sounding slightly annoyed.

 

“Oh! Uh, sorry, got distracted there for a sec.” Lance internally winced – he hadn’t meant to admit that. Luckily the guy – _Keith_ – didn’t seem to notice. “I’m Lance.” He stuck out his right hand at Keith, smiling.

 

Keith eyed Lance’s hand for a second, raising an eyebrow.

 

“What? My mama raised a true gentleman!”

 

Keith shrugged and returned the hand shake.

 

_Fingerless. Gloves._

 

“So, how far are you going?”

 

“Uh, to Miami. Like, near downtown. You?”

 

“Miami too, yeah, near Edgewater. I’m moving back home for a bit.” _Why was I so specific? Keith wasn’t that specific. Ugh._ Lance felt nervous and flustered and when he felt that way, words just sorta, tumbled out.

 

“Cool.”

 

There were a few minutes of slightly awkward silence; clearly Keith wasn’t really interested in asking any more questions, content to sit there staring out the window. Lance started tapping out a rhythm on his steering wheel, and after another minute, caught himself singing softly in Spanish. He glanced at the speakers, itching to turn the truck on just so he could play some music -

 

The cars in front of him started moving again. “Awesome!!! Another fifty feet here we go!” He turned on the truck, the engine roaring to life, Shakira’s voice caught-mid song on the speakers. Blessedly the cars kept on inching forward, no one around him shutting down their engines, so Lance could keep the CD playing.

 

“What kind of music do you like?” Lance asked, shifting his eyes back to Keith.

 

“Uh, I don’t know.”

 

“What? How could you not know? Do you listen to music?”

 

Keith shrugged. “I guess? Mostly in the shop. And I’m usually using tools so I can’t really hear it.”

 

“The shop?”

 

“Yeah. I’m a mechanic. And stuff.”

 

_And stuff. God he’s ador - awkward._ “Woah, sweet! Do you fix stuff?”

 

Again, Keith shrugged. “Like, cars. And bikes.” He paused for a beat, eyes downcast. “I built my bike.”

 

If Lance wasn’t already stopped, he would have slammed on his breaks. “WHAT?! NO way dude! You have to be like, as old as me! No way you built that bike!”

 

Keith looked both affronted and flattered at the same time. “How does age factor in? I’ve been building bikes since I was 15.”

 

“And now you’re…” Lance congratulated himself on achieving the most passive way on getting more info from this mysterious stranger.

 

“… 28,” Keith replied after a beat. He seemed extremely reluctant to share anything more. Maybe Lance should have followed, but one could not simply turn off extraversion when meeting a hot young guy on the road.

 

“Cool! I’m 26.”

 

“Okay?”

 

“Okay so that bike. It’s hella rad, dude. Have you built others?”

 

For the next twenty minutes, in between talking about all of Keith’s mechanical adventures and moving slightly forward, Lance actually had a good time. He learned that Keith had been on a road trip from Nashville, visiting his brother Shiro and Shiro’s fiancé Adam, who were in a band together.

 

At some point a middle-aged man had walked down the middle of the road, in between the stopped vehicles, offering out popcorn. Lance had glanced at Keith, who had shaken his head, and Lance followed suit. “Thanks man, but we don’t wanna make ourselves even thirstier by eating that stuff!” The man shrugged and continued down to make his offer to other cars.

 

“Man, this is insane! We’re like, bonding with the other drivers, y’know? It’s like a huge caravan family!”

 

“Yeah,” Keith agreed, sounding distracted. He pointed at Lance’s phone. “So does this tell you anything about the cause of the jam?”

 

“Oh man, you don’t know? Wait, do you even know how long it stretches on for?”

 

Keith shook his head, frowning. “My phone died before I hit the jam.”

 

The guy had been driving in the traffic jam without even knowing how disastrous it was?! Lance had so much pity for the dude. And respect? Maybe?

 

“Apparently it was caused by a car fire somewhere down the Turnpike?” He grabbed the phone from the hands-free stand on the dash and flicked to some Google images to show Keith. “Looks like they’re cleaning up the fuel on the road.”

 

Keith’s eyes widened as he flicked back to the maps, seeing the full extent of the red and black congestion levels. “Wow. I had no idea. At least it looks like we’re halfway through?”

 

“Yup! Just gotta hope it does actually clear up in another 8 miles. The time estimate is total bullshit – it’s definitely been over an hour and a half. Pfft, two hours my ass. You had one job Google!”

 

“I really appreciate you picking me up like this. I would have been totally screwed.”

 

Lance waved him off, smiling. “Ah, I’m sure you’d have been picked up by someone else eventually.”

 

“Yeah but you’re decent, at least.” Keith’s face flushed and he slumped a bit in his seat, looking embarrassed at the admission.

 

Lance laughed. “Haha, thanks man! You’re not so bad yourself!”

 

They inched forward another few feet. “Hey, you never answered me – what kind of music do you like?”

 

“What do you have?”

 

“Hmm, mostly Beyoncé, Shakira, T-Swift –“

 

“T… Swift?”

 

Lance stared at Keith, mouth open. “Taylor… Swift?”

 

Keith shrugged, not reacting to the name.

 

“What.. the fuck. ARE YOU SERIOUS?! You’re joking right?” Lance wanted to shake the guy. “How do you NOT know who T-Swizzles is? She’s like, oh man, a goddess among voices! What?!”

 

Keith rolled his eyes, irritated. “Whatever. It’s not like you’ve heard of the Red Jumpsuit Apparatus.”

 

“Pfft! I totally have!” Lance had not, in fact, heard of that band, but he internally promised he would look them up when he got home. “Anyways, don’t change the subject! You are going to be educated in the ways of Swift!”

 

Lance carefully switched out his current mix CD for 1989, turning up the volume. “Welcome to New York” started playing, making him nostalgic for his home of the last four years.

 

When “Style” came on, Lance fully hopped out the truck, and started dancing in the middle of the road, belting out the lyrics.

 

Keith leaned over to the driver’s side, shock warring with amusement. “Lance! What the hell! Get back in here!”

 

“Keith, my man!! You should join _me_ out _here!_ ”

 

“I hope someone runs you over!”

 

“Rude!” He laughed as he shimmied and bobbed along to the music. Some drivers honked at him, waving and cheering him on, eager for any source of amusement.

 

Keith refused to admit out loud that this gangly guy actually had some decent dance moves.

 

Eventually Lance hopped back in, the flow of traffic budging enough to warrant movement.

 

Lance reached back behind him, hand diving into an opened box, searching for his Gatorade. “Ah man, that was kinda dumb. I’m hella thirsty now.”

 

“Just don’t drink all of it,” Keith warned. He looked behind him curiously. “What’s with all the boxes?”

 

And so Lance explained that he had been on a long road-trip from New York City, where he had been studying marine biology. He had sent the majority of his belongings ahead with a moving truck, and the few boxes in the back were stragglers – personal items like face creams and such. Keith was openly shocked when Lance told him he had just defended his PhD thesis in waterfront rehabilitation.

 

Lance looked affronted at his guest’s apparent shock. “What? Hey man, I’m smart!”

 

“I didn’t say anything!”

 

“Yeah but your face did!”

 

“It’s just my face!”

 

“Whatever! Anyways. Yeah. I’m moving back to be with my family for a bit, while I figure out what to do next.”

 

“What do you want to do?”

 

“Eeeh, I dunno. Teach maybe? Kinda sick of research now. There’s an aquarium that my best friend Hunk works at – I might look into that.”

 

“Sounds cool.”

 

“Yeah man!” Lance caught himself smiling broadly, the thought of seeing Hunk soon temporarily abating the frustrating at the traffic jam. “What do you have in Miami?”

 

“Shiro’s friend’s uncle has a garage that I’m gonna work at for a bit. I like to move around though, so I dunno if I’ll stay. Depends on the work.”

 

“Wow awesome! That sounds so cool! Man, it must be satisfying to work with your hands all day and build shit.”

 

Keith shrugged. “Yeah I guess.”

 

“My Dad is really into cars,” Lance began. He talked for a while about his family as the traffic slowly inched along. He spoke of how his brother Marco could sometimes be really mean, but was always reliable – “Like, one time, right, I was knee-deep in term papers, and Marco like, sent a huge care package over for me! It was great! It had refills of all my favourite skin stuff – don’t laugh Keith! Skin care is very important!” Keith rolled his eyes, but Lance could see the corners of his mouth twitching into a smile, silently encouraging him to keep talking. “And my sister Veronica, ooooh man, she can be feisty. Like, this one time –“

 

Around five minutes into the conversation, Keith caught himself wondering: _Is this guy always this talkative to complete strangers?_

 

Lance caught himself wondering why it felt so good – so natural – to ramble on to a complete stranger.

 

Neither of them minded in the slightest.

 

~~ 20 minutes later ~~

 

They had inched up close to a truck transporting brand new vehicles to somewhere, on the passenger side. Keith was quick to point out that nine out of ten of the vehicles were Honda CRVs, while one was randomly a BMW.

 

Lance laughed at him. “What? Why does it matter?”

 

Keith threw his hands up. “Because!! Why is there _one_ BMW? It doesn’t make any sense!”

 

“Maybe the owner of the company bought a new one, and just like, sent it with the peasant vehicles?”

 

“No way! He’d want it sent separately!”

 

“Well then I don’t know! Why don’t you just ask the driver of the truck? We’re going slowly enough!” Lance nodded his head in the direction of said truck, the driver elevated about four feet above them. Privately, he thought that Keith was being _adorable_ – it was the first time he’d seen the guy get worked up over anything. Figures it’d be about a car.

 

Keith crossed his arms and pouted. “Whatever.”

 

~~ An hour later ~~

 

“OH SWEET JESUS YES!” Lance was nearly dancing in his seat, as sweaty as he was. Their spot in the traffic jam had _finally_ inched its way past the scene of the accident. Black streaks of fuel scarred the pavement of the highway, workers in hazmat suits spraying them down with big hoses. As they slowly passed the wreckage, Lance whistled low in his throat.

 

“Wow. No wonder everything was backed up so far. What a mess!”

 

Keith had to peer over Lance’s shoulder to get a good look. “Glad we’re not in that mess.”

 

“Yup!” Lance agreed happily, turning his attention back to the blessedly clear (ish) road ahead of him. “You’re right, my dude – things could always be worse!”

 

They were silent as Lance drove for a bit. “Oh my God Keith, look at the dash! I’m finally hitting above 10 miles an hour! WOW!”

 

“Amazing,” Keith drawled.

 

“Oh don’t even joke my man, you are just as excited about this as me.” Lance sighed wistfully. “I shall miss our traffic jam fam! Remember that guy who was walking up and down the road handing out popcorn? Good times.”

 

Keith looked at him strangely. “Uh, yeah, that was like, two hours ago. I was there.”

 

Lance cocked his head and smiled, confused. “Dude. I know.” _Oh my god he is too much right now – absolutely no sense of humor._

Lance yawned, his jaw cracking. “Oof, I hadn’t realized how tense my jaw was for a while there.” He massaged it with his left hand, working out the tightness.

 

In an echo, Keith yawned as well, then slumped a bit further into the seat. Lance saw him glance at the map on Lance’s phone – still about 85 miles to go until they reached Lance’s destination. Lance realized he only had a vague idea of where in Miami Keith was actually going. Huh.

 

“So, uh, where am I dropping you off in Miami?”

 

Keith closed his eyes and yawned again, taking a minute to answer. “Oh, the garage? It’s in Brownsville.”

 

“Oh! Cool! That’s like, pretty close to where my family lives! Yeah that’ll totally work.”

 

Keith nodded and yawned for a third time, making Lance yawn again.

 

He glanced at the clock. And took stock of how his body was feeling, and how far they still had to go. A sign on the road up ahead read “Palm Beach Gardens, 10 miles”.

 

“Man. Okay, I know this is gonna sound weird, but I’m exhausted. And you look tired too,” Lance observed. Keith shrugged. “Do you want to pull over, get something to eat, and then find a motel?”

 

_It’s not a date it’s not a date it’s not a date,_ Lance chanted in his head.

 

Keith glanced at the clock. _7:09PM._ His stomach felt really empty all of a sudden. Which made sense, he thought, as he hadn’t really eaten lunch, and barely any breakfast before he had set out for the last leg of his road trip.

 

“Yeah, I could eat.” He paused, feeling his face heat up _for some stupid reason_. “And… and the rest. Yeah. Sounds good.”

 

“Great! So I’ll just pull off at Palm Beach Gardens then. Then we can have a fresh start in the morning!”

 

They were quiet for the drive to the exit, the soft sounds of Feist playing from the radio. Lance could feel his eyelids drooping a bit, making him really glad he’d made the decision to stop for the night.

 

“Need to grab some gas first,” he mumbled quietly. He didn’t want to disturb Keith, as it seemed the guy had fallen asleep. _Adorable._

 

Lance groaned in satisfaction as he hopped out of his truck at the pump, his long legs thankful for a change from being bent at a 90 degree angle. Keith stirred awake as Lance prepared the gas pump.

 

“Oh, wait, are we at a gas station?” Keith asked, sitting up, now fully awake.

 

“Yup!” It took him a second to realize what that meant for Keith. And then his stomach did a weird thing as he glanced at the red motorbike in the bed of his truck. _Oh… right._

 

“Lance! I can fuel up my bike!” Keith hopped out of the truck. “Why didn’t you wake me up to tell me we were stopping? Geez!”

 

Lance scratched the back of his head with his free hand sheepishly. “Uh, I kinda, forgot? I guess? Sorry.”

 

“You forgot. When you’re literally in eyesight of the bike in your truck,” Keith dead-panned.

 

“Okay just – just wait until I’m done, and then we can… hmm… somehow get the bike down? Or like, maybe the gas nozzle would reach far enough?”

 

Keith shrugged. “I’m sure we can ask some people in the store to help get it down.” He paused for a beat, his eyes moving down to his boots. “And… then put it back up.”

 

Lance didn’t reply, heart hammering in his chest, as he finished fueling his truck. The machine beeped at him to take his receipt, and with slightly trembling fingers he shoved it in his pocket. “Um, you – you wouldn’t just want to drive off then?” _Wow, I suck at being transparent._

 

Keith bit his lip and shrugged again. “I’m tired too. And I still need to eat. Might as well stick with you.”

 

A smile erupted on Lance’s face. Not from the words really, but from the immense satisfaction of being able to read through Keith’s words. He’d only known the guy for three hours, but he could _tell_ that Keith was filtering himself very carefully. Something in his uneasy body language was telling Lance “ _don’t reveal how much you’re looking forward to said thing”_ and that made Lance _ecstatic._

 

“Awesome!” The transaction on the machine ended for him and he stepped away. “Okay so, I guess we should try and just make the nozzle reach first then?”

 

Keith nodded, happy that there was a plan of action, instead of just standing there awkwardly. In all truth, he simply didn’t want to leave the strangely exuberant company of this stranger. The last three hours had been… nice. Keith was used to traveling alone, him driving a motorbike and all. Other than today, he couldn’t remember the last time he’d traveled by car. Much less with a companion near his own age.

 

The gas nozzle did not, in fact, reach Keith’s bike. “Well that’s just bad luck,” Lance groaned, frustrated. He sighed, and then perked up immediately. “Alright, you stay here, and I’ll run inside and get some help.”

 

And, just like before, Lance managed to wrangle up three people, all employees of the convenience store, to help them take down Keith’s bike, fuel it up, and haul it back onto the truck. Keith was self-conscious of the looks the guys were giving him, imagining them to mean _why are they putting the bike back in the truck? Why not just drive it? What the hell?_ But he did his best to ignore them. He wasn’t even really sure himself why he didn’t just drive his own way to whatever motel he was going to. His excuse was that his phone was dead, and therefore couldn’t follow his maps app, and didn’t want to get lost, in case he got separated from Lance’s truck. Sure, that worked.

 

“Thanks guys! Hey, do you know where the closest motel is?” Lance called after the employees.

 

One of them smirked at Keith. Keith glared back.

 

“About three miles North of here, called _Balmeran Skies_ ,” one of them replied.

 

“Cool, thanks bro!”

 

As soon as they got back in the truck, Lance winced through his teeth and groaned in pain. “Goddamnit, I think I pulled something.” He rubbed at his right shoulder, frowning.

 

“Ah, really? Are you okay?”

 

“Dunno. Should be, if I keep massaging it. Anyways, it’s cool. Where do you want to eat dinner? We can probably find something on the way to the motel.” The truck started up with a low, comforting rumble.

“Anywhere is fine. M’not picky,” Keith replied. “Somewhere cheap,” he added after a beat.

 

Lance snorted. “I’ve been a student for like, the past eight years. I am an expert in cheap,” he smirked.

 

They ended up finding a small pub-like diner, specializing in seafood. Ah, Lance had missed the salty smell of Miami seafood. It was amazing how at-home and comfortable he felt this pub he’d never visited before, sat with a stranger (well, maybe a friend now? Certainly an acquaintance).

 

“Ever been to Miami before?” Lance asked, before taking a huge bite of his battered tilapia.

 

Keith shook his head, taking a sip of his milkshake. “Nope. I’ve kinda always just drifted around the Midwest.”

 

Lance leaned back, waving his hands in disagreement. “Urgh, so dry though! The coast is where it’s at, my dude.”

Keith shrugged. “Well obviously you’d like it, if you’re a marine biologist.”

 

In typical dramatic fashion, Lance gasped and put a hand to his chest. “You remembered!”

 

“You told me like two hours ago?”

 

“Yeah, but like, still.”

Lance beamed at Keith, eyes crinkling with happiness which, _okay,_ thought Keith, _wow that is adorable?_ Keith cleared his throat and turned his attention to this food.

 

~~~

 

They’re both exhausted by the time they reach the motel (which was WAY fancy for a “small” seaside town).

 

It’s hilarious, how much Lance both hates and loves the universe, for there being only one bed left in the entire place. “There aren’t any double rooms available?” (He hoped that had sounded like a sincerer request than it sounded like in his head).

 

“Well, what do you expect when you come in so late, young man? We’re not supposed to just anticipate guests – “

 

“Ma’am, it’s really okay – “

 

“Leaving rooms of all sorts just unoccupied – “

 

“Ah, can I just – I’ll just pay now, if that’s okay –“

 

“I mean _really_ , we’ve got a business to run!”

 

Keith abruptly burst in front of Lance, face sporting a look so intense that the woman the counter immediately shut up. “We’ll take the room.”

 

“Right. Okay. That’ll be fifty-six dollars. Check out is by 11AM.”

 

Lance face-planted into the double bed with a loud, explosive sigh. “Oh my goooodd, yesss, a bed! Also wow could you believe that reception lady? Come on man! I was just asking!”

 

Keith snorted, chuckling. “Yeah well, maybe she’s had a long, annoying day too.”

 

Lance rolled over, throwing a pillow at Keith. “Hey! Your day was awesome! Traveling with me, couldn’t be better!” He winced, a flare of discomfort reminding him of his earlier shoulder accident.

 

Not missing a beat, Keith punched the pillow back to Lance. “Be careful of your shoulder, idiot,” he mumbled. He eyed the bathroom. “I’m gonna take a shower. Do you need the bathroom first?”

 

Lance shook his head. “Nah.”

 

“Cool.”

 

It was the first time in the past several hours that Keith was away from Lance, alone, to his thoughts, as the warm water cascaded down his skin, cleaning off the sweat of the day, releasing some of the tension in his shoulders and neck. How did he get here, with a stranger? Hell, how had his bike even run out of gas? He had always been extremely careful with fuel when embarking on long road trips. As soon as he got to Coran’s garage, he’d have to check out the fuel tank, maybe run some diagnostics.

 

Well, Keith mused, it could have gone _a lot_ worse. He could have been picked up by some complete asshole, ready to take advantage of a relatively defenseless guy (Keith knew some self-defence okay), or, he could have not been picked up at all. And with a dead cell phone, he would have been at the mercy of luck, or fate, or whatever.

 

Yup, Keith was pretty lucky. Even if he had had to listen to Lance yammer on about his entire family for like, an hour, who all seemed pretty darn nice, if Keith was to be asked. Lance had really seemed to light up whenever he’d spoken of his grandmother. Keith had never met someone so… openly passionate.

 

_He’s pretty cute too –_

Keith exhaled explosively and shut off the water, effectively halting his thoughts as well. He quickly dried and dressed in the lighter change of clothes he’d had in his backpack.

 

~~

 

Lance watched Keith walk into the bathroom, then ran his fingers through his hair, trying to calm himself down. _I am in a motel room sharing one bed with a ridiculously hot stranger. Goddamn what is my life._  

 

Feeling restless, Lance got up from the bed, grabbed his phone, and dialed his mother’s number. He had time to check in with his family, and it was something useful to do to distract himself from Keith, naked in the shower, only feet away.

 

“Hola Mama, si si – estoy bien – I’m just calling to update you,” he said in a rush, knowing that his Mother’s first reaction would be worry.

 

“We’ve put all the food in the fridge – it’ll be ready for you tomorrow!” She reassured. “Everyone is so excited to see you!”

 

“I’m excited too!” Lance paused, wondering how much he should tell his Mother. After a second’s deliberation, he realized that he could never hide anything from her, and even over the phone she’d be able to sense deception. “So, uh, I kinda rescued this dude from the highway – his motorbike ran out of gas, and I picked him up –“

 

“A stranger! Lance! You know that is so dangerous!”

 

Lance waved his free hand in the air, unconsciously gesticulating in a “calm-down” fashion. “Si si, I know! But like, we – we _bonded_ y’know? I could tell he is trustworthy. Anyways. We’ve stopped for the night at a motel –“

 

“Lancito…”

 

“And we ate dinner of course – “

 

“Lancito!”

 

“And we’re going to pick up in the morning where we left off, and I’ll probably drop him off before I get home.”

 

He heard his mother sigh. “Lance, you like this man?”

 

Lance quietly face-palmed. She really could see through his every word, couldn’t she? He thought he’d kept his voice rather neutral. Apparently he had failed miserably.

 

“Uh, it’s too early to tell yet? I mean –“

 

“Is he pretty?”

 

Lance chuckled. Trust his mother to get right to the point. “Yes, mama. Very.”

 

He heard her make a rather girly sound of excitement. “Bring him tomorrow!! I want to meet this mystery biker that has captured my son’s heart!”

 

“Mama! No hearts have been captured!”

 

“Yet!”

 

Lance groaned in embarrassment, his mouth betraying him with a smile. “Okay. Well, I’ll ask him, but he’s a real broody type, I doubt he’ll want to come.”

 

“Even more reason to meet him! He needs more people in his life!”

 

His smile widened as he pictured his Mama and Abuelita shoving food in front of Keith, making sure he ate enough, was happy enough. It was a nice mental image.

 

The smile became tense as his shoulder twinged, angry at being ignored for so long. “Okay, mama, I have to go. I’ll text you in the morning when we leave!”

 

“And let me know if we’re expecting your mystery friend!”

 

Lance smiled and ended the call, shaking his head fondly. He then found the coconut massage oil he’d brought from the truck, removed his shirt, and set to work on massaging his shoulder.

 

~~

 

“Um,” Keith felt himself halt in his tracks, face heating up as he observed Lance on the one bed in the room. Lance. Shirtless. Rubbing what appeared to be some sort of oil onto his shoulder.

 

“Hey man,” Lance greeted, eyes closed, head turned in the direction of Keith. “Good shower?”

 

Keith stepped further into the room, clearing his throat. “Y-yeah. Do you – uh, want to take one?”

 

“I like to shower in the morning. Also, I need to massage this shoulder. It’s being dumb.” He rubbed at said shoulder, mouth and eyebrows pulled down, nose scrunched up. He seemed to be breathing a bit heavier too.

 

“Ah, geez, I feel real bad – did you hurt it while lifting up the bike?” Keith inched closer, heart beat settling to a normal pace in his chest, getting over the initial pleasant shock of seeing so much tanned skin on display (the dude had a nice body – Keith wondered if he was a swimmer).

 

Lance winced through a smile. “Yeah I _reckon_ so,” he snorted.

 

Keith narrowed his eyes. “Are you… making fun of my voice?”

 

“You have a bit of a southern drawl! It’s adorable!”

 

And Keith was _not_ pouting at that. “I can’t help it! My Dad was full-on Texan, said _y’all_ and everything.”

 

Lance paused at rubbing his shoulder for a second, and opened his eyes, looking at Keith with unguarded sympathy. “Was?”

 

“Yeah. He...,” he sighed heavily, “he died in a fire. Even though… he was a fireman. Uh, he died when I was ten.”

 

“Ah. That... that sucks. I’m sorry man.”

 

They both shared a comfortable minute of silence, looking at each other. Eventually, Keith shook himself out of it. “And it’s – it’s _not_ adorable.”

 

The room brightened a bit with Lance’s cheeky grin. “Totally is!”

 

Keith sat on the edge of the bed for a few minutes, just letting himself idly stare around the room. He glanced at the clock – _10:53 PM –_ and realized that, surprisingly, he wasn’t really all that tired. A frustrated grunt brought him back to reality.

 

“Goddamit,” Lance mumbled. He was shuffling on the bed restlessly, left arm reaching, long fingers flexing at an odd angle. He then tried a different approach and fed his arm around his side from below, and then groaned again. “Stupid anatomy.”

 

Keith’s mouth opened before his brain could stop it. “I can help.”

 

Lance’s eyebrows rose in shock. “Uh, you mean – like, massage me?”

 

Keith shrugged. “If you tell me where. Sure.”

 

After a second or two, Lance shrugged too, chuckling breathlessly. “Sure. I mean, you’ve gotta be good with your hands, right? Being a mechanic an’ all?”

 

A hot flush stole Keith’s cheeks at that – the double meaning behind Lance’s words all too obvious – _was this guy flirting?_ “Just – where is that stuff you’re using?”

 

Lance pointed to an open jar on the bedside table. “S’the best,” he confirmed proudly.

 

Keith dipped his fingers in to the pleasantly cool cream and brought them to his nose. “Smells like coconut.” His heart was beating _hard_ in his chest, almost into his throat – Keith could not remember the last time he had so intimately touched another human being – he’d had one-night stands within the last few years – always moving around, on the road – sure, the odd mechanic client or two – but never… nothing so intimate as a _massage_.

 

_Just focus on the massage, Keith._

 

Lance was _eating his tongue_ he was so worked up. Keith had come out of the bathroom, hair all tousled and clean, falling in to those fucking _gorgeous_ eyes – he’d jumped at the first chance he got to have the man’s hands on his skin. Of course, he actually really did need a massage. He really could not reach the stupid ache in his shoulder – well, more middle back now – it had migrated, as knots do. And when was the last time Lance had had time for a relationship? Never, that’s when. Between his school and part-time work at the museum, hell no! He could admit to himself that he was severely touch-starved, and if some drop-dead gorgeous Asian man wanted to hands him all up, then who was Lance to deny him?

 

Lance moved so that he was sat cross-legged on the bed, his back facing Keith.

 

Keith moved so that was sitting astride the edge of the bed, torso turned to face Lance’s back, legs off the bed. It wasn’t exactly comfortable, but it would do. “Um, where exactly….” Keith trailed off, sounding unsure.

 

“Like, kinda my lower slash mid back? Straight down from the shoulder blade.”

 

“Okay,” Keith murmured. He inhaled slowly – trying to calm himself down – he was a 28-year-old man for fuck’s sakes – before planting his hands on Lance’s oiled skin. Tension fell out of both their bodies, some kind of wall being knocked down at that first touch.

 

Lance grunted quietly, letting his head dip forward. Keith bit his lip to contain a whine that would have surely been embarrassing – the man even had a nice neck, _Jesus_.

 

“Um, y-yeah, that’s – it’s right there, kinda.”

 

“Kinda? Or yes?” Keith pressed in harder with his right hand, the left hand mostly there to rest on Lance’s other shoulder. Without realizing it, his left thumb had started to stroke the smooth skin beneath it. Lance shivered at the sensation.

 

“Um, harder?”

 

For a few minutes, Lance gave feedback on Keith’s efforts, until an entirely different kind of tension within him (and maybe between them) became too much for him to handle. “I think that’s good now. Much better,” Lance sighed in relief, rolling out his shoulder and back.

 

Keith pulled back, ignoring the sense of disappointment in his belly. Touching Lance had felt… nice. His hands twitched, wanting to resume their path around that warm, smooth skin. “Yeah?”

 

Land nodded, turning back to face Keith. “Yeah.”

 

A burst of arousal so hard hit Keith then that he inhaled sharply – Lance looked – he looked _fucked up_. Like, eyes dazed, skin flushed, skin oiled –

 

“Fuck,” Keith exhaled bluntly.

 

They were both breathing hard as Keith, not taking his eyes off of Lance, rose up so that he was kneeling on the bed, above Lance. Lance’s eyes tracked him like a magnet. His pupils were dilated, almost drowning out the blue, and Keith imagined his own eyes looked similar. Lance swallowed, and Keith’s eyes followed the movement of his Adam’s apple.

 

“I – I don’t normally – uh –“

 

“Me neither,” Keith whispered, not really knowing what he was saying, cutting Lance off. He reached down with his hands to cup Lance’s face. Slowly he leaned in, so close that he felt each warm puff of exhale land delicately on his face. “Yeah?”

 

Lance nodded, eyes wide, staring up at Keith’s mouth. “Yeah,” he murmured back.

 

The kiss was hungry and desperate. Lance boldly wrapped his arms around the other man, pulling them both backwards until he landed on his back. Keith dropped his hands from Lance’s face to shove apart his legs, pushing his body flush into Lance’s groin, groaning loudly when he felt how hard Lance already was.

 

Lance’s mouth was _devoured_ – Keith’s hot tongue sliding hotly against his, coiling and pushing, exploring. He felt dizzy even though the was lying down. His legs tightened around Keith’s hips, bringing him closer, ankles locking behind his back, bringing Keith in _harder_ – both of them moaning hotly into each other’s mouths.

 

“God – fuck –“ Keith bit out. He planted his hands beside Lance’s head, rising up like a cobra to focus energy into his hips, grinding down on Lance, making the man gasp and moan. “You – feel so good,” he moaned.

 

“Y-yeah, you too – “ Lance panted, moving his hips against Keith, trying to keep up. “It’s – ah – it’s been a while –“

 

Keith dropped down to nuzzle at Lance’s throat. “We don’t have to have sex if you don’t want to,” he murmured into Lance’s ear, nipping at his earlobe. His hands glided up Lance’s sides, caressing and rubbing up and down his skin.

 

Lance laughed, the sound a bit hysterical to his ears, and he wrapped his arms around Keith. “Um, is that okay? We can just – um, it’s not like I don’t want to – I mean, you’re really fucking hot – but like, it’s a bit much – um,” Lance bit his lip, heart hammering in his throat, sentence ending in a moan, as Keith started to suck on his neck. He could still feel the other man’s hot erection pressed against his inner thigh, even through their two layers of pants, so close to his own. His heart was pounding hard in his chest – surely Keith could feel it -

 

“S’fine,” Keith mumbled into his neck, voice gruff. “We can get each other off, yeah?”

 

Lance exhaled in relief. “Yeah,” he nodded. More comfortable territory. He wrapped his arms around Keith, burying his face in his neck, inhaling his musky scent. _God it’s been a while_.

 

Keith brought his mouth down on Lance’s again, resuming their heated kiss, plunging his tongue through Lance’s gasping lips, exhaling hard through his nose. He backed off his lower body to make enough of a space to unbutton Lance’s jeans, fingers trembling and clumsy. Flustered, he grunted, fully backing away to give the pants his full attention.

 

He heard Lance chuckle and shot him a glare. Lance smiled – _Keith’s heart skipped a beat because damn the man had a gorgeous smile – and face – and, well everything really_ – and his hands joined Keith’s. He bit his lip as he undid his pants, shoving them down his narrow hips, past his ankles once Keith moved out of the way, and onto the floor.

 

“You too,” he nodded at Keith, keen to see bare skin.

 

Keith made quick work of his own pants, carelessly throwing them to the floor to join the previously discarded blue jeans. His hand found its way into Lance’s blue briefs, fingers curling around his erection, making Lance shudder in pleasured shock and buck his hips off the bed, immediately eager for more. Keith couldn’t believe how _attractive_ Lance was – his brown skin flushed with healthy pleasure, his hips moving restlessly beneath Keith.

And it really _had_ been a while, for Keith, but somehow with Lance, still practically a complete stranger, he felt extremely comfortable. Comfortable enough to move his way down Lance’s lithe body, curl his fingers unto the waistband of his briefs and tug them off. His face met with the musky scent of Lance’s exposed cock and he groaned, licking his lips in anticipation. Above him, Lance answered with a moan-turned-disbelieving-laugh.

 

“Holy shit, holy _shit,_ Keith you – you don’t have tooooooaaaaaauuugh,” he trailed off into a long groan, the ability to form words overwhelmed by the hot, _wet_ , sensation of a mouth around his dick. “Oh dios mio, you are so fucking – _yes_ – “ Lance’s mouth couldn’t seem to close – an almost constant babble of encouragement streaming to Keith, who honestly didn’t really mind – at least then he knew he was doing something right.

 

Lance tried to curl forward to reach at Keith’s boxers, itching to touch him too, but collapsed with another loud moan. He rubbed his hands over his face, needing to do _something_ with them – sucked in two fingers, muffling his groans, needing to – wanting to -

 

Keith glanced up at the change in the sounds Lance was making and nearly came in his boxers at the sight of Lance sucking on his own fingers. Squeezing his eyes shut to calm himself, he pulled off of Lance’s dick, resting his lips on the tip, catching his breath. He was now picturing Lance’s long fingers thrusting in and out of his –

 

“Ah, Keith, _Keith_ , please, I’m – I’m so close –“

 

Lance’s hips twitched upwards beneath Keith’s hands, the tip of his cock sliding against Keith’s cheek, impatient for his hot mouth.

 

“Y-yeah, sorry,” he panted, voice rougher than he’d ever heard it. He let his mouth open and with one deep-throated pull, Lance was shooting into his throat, moaning louder than before, torso curling up and into Keith.

 

Keith took pride in himself that he managed to not cough or choke or something else embarrassing. Breathing hard, he sat up, tilting his head back, rolling his neck a bit. He was embraced a second later, Lance’s shaking arms wrapping around his shoulders.

 

“Fuck man, that was incredible,” he groaned. He nipped at Keith’s ear, nuzzled along his jaw, mouth making its way to Keith’s lips. Keith grunted in surprise when Lance kissed him, urging his mouth open, _maybe eager for a taste of himself –_ Keith whimpered and his hips involuntarily bucked upwards.

 

Smirking, Lance moved downwards, fingers sliding into Kieth’s boxers.

 

And, obviously Keith would’ve wanted to last a _bit_ longer when Lance reciprocated, but it wasn’t his fault that sucking the guy off had gotten him so worked up.

 

~~

 

_BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!_

Lance jolted awake, arm already moving to where he knew his phone was, the obnoxious alarm cutting through the air. He slid over the snooze button and collapsed back down with a huff. _Ugh, why did I have it set for 7:30AM?!_

 

Beside him, he heard a groan. The low sound made his heart beat a little bit harder, made his gut turn with pleasure, made his face erupt in a blush.

 

Yesterday his entire life had changed.

 

Because of a traffic jam.

 

Because he’d picked up a stranger who had run out of gas on the highway.

 

Because they’d shared a motel room, an intimate bonding experience, and then a bed.

 

Lance had never thought of himself as a person who could do one-night-stands.

 

He turned to look at Keith, who was now lying on his back, eyes scrunched a bit at the light streaming through the curtains, obvious love-bites peppering his neck and chest, and his heart caught in his throat.

 

Nope, this was _not_ going to be a one-night stand.

 

Lance was so distracted by staring at a slowly-waking Keith that he didn’t realize nine minutes had already gone by, and was again jolted by his alarm shouting at him for a second time.

 

“Fucking alarm,” Keith muttered. He rubbed a hand over his face as Lance cancelled his alarm for good.

 

“Sorry,” Lance apologized sheepishly. “I forgot to snooze it.”

 

“S’okay.” Keith kept his eyes closed for another few seconds, then turned to look at Lance. They both exhaled at the same time, and Lance smiled. Keith gave him a small smile in return, relief blooming warm in his chest.

 

Nervously, Lance fidgeted with a corner of his pillow case. He swallowed past a dry throat. “Um, so, do you want to maybe come with me? To the reunion party with my family?”

 

Keith didn’t respond immediately, favouring simply staring at Lance, expression unreadable. Inside, his mind was racing – _he wants me to meet his family? Holy shit?! What is this? Does he want a relationship? Do I want a relationship?! What if his family hates me? Oh god am I actually considering doing this? This is so unlike me –_ “Um.”

 

Lance sat up (and Keith was suddenly very distracted by the way the blanket fell down off his body, revealing those sharp hip bones – the same ones he had left hot kisses on less than twelve hours ago), hands waving to placate Keith, who clearly looked a bit distressed now. “No no it’s okay – forget I ever said anything! I just thought – I mean, I really – uh –“ his face started to flush – “I kinda really like you? I’m not sure where this is going but –“

 

Keith sat up too (he let the blanket fall down as well, and was pleased to see Lance’s eyes drift downwards). “Um, y-yeah, I’ll – I’ll come to meet your family.” _What the heck why did that come so easily -_

 

Lance’s eyes widened and his smile lit up the room. “Really? Wow! That’s – are you sure?”

 

Shrugging, Keith said, “Sure. From how you’ve spoken of them, they seem nice. Also I don’t think Coran is expecting me at the garage until Thursday, so I have another two free days.”

 

Lance chose not to acknowledge out loud that Keith chose not to admit that _he_ himself wanted to see Lance’s family – but, like before, Lance found it almost too easy to read between the lines, or rather, his black furrowed eyebrows. The slight dusting of pink on his pale cheeks wasn’t too bad a help either.

 

“One thing first though,” Keith said, tone serious.

 

Lance swallowed, nervous, _the whole situation so precarious –_

“I’m gonna try and fix the AC in your truck.”

 

“Oh thank God, _yes_ , yes you can absolutely do that.”

 

~~

 

The Florida turnpike was blessedly populated by the regular volume of traffic for a Tuesday morning.

 

Both men sighed with relief as they merged onto the highway, cool air rattling into the cab, the energetic notes of Sia in the background.

 

“Thank you again so much for fixing my AC,” Lance said, smiling at his passenger.

 

“And for the tenth time, it was no problem. Just some loose wires,” Keith shrugged.

 

“ _Just_ some loose wires, he says,” Lance shook his head fondly. “Don’t downplay your skills, dude! You have some talented hands.” He waited a beat, then smirked at Keith. “I mean, I should know –“

 

Keith’s face erupted in a blush and he sent a light punch to Lance’s good shoulder. “Oh my god you’re so lame!”

 

It was worth it for how hard Lance laughed.

 

“Okay ol’ Blue, 75 miles to go!”

 

~~

 

As they journeyed closer to their destination, it was painfully obvious that Keith was feeling more and more nervous. His hands went from peacefully resting in his lap, to wringing together, to thumbs rubbing against curled fists.

 

Eventually, with only 10 miles to go, Keith spoke up, voice sounding smaller. “Um, so does your family know I’m coming too?”

 

“Yeah man! I called them before we left, remember?”

 

“You kinda – spoke in Spanish for a lot of it? Also I usually don’t try and eavesdrop on private conversations…”

 

“Ah, my bad. Yeah everyone’s actually really excited to meet you! And, uh - ” Lance could feel his face warm up, and could see in his peripherals that Keith was leaning in to peer closer. “Um, I – I kinda told her, uh, everything?”

 

Keith blanched. “What?! Everything?! Lance – “

 

“Dude, ew!! Not _everything_ everything! Just the important stuff! Like how I met you and junk.”

 

“Nice to know it’s all _junk_ ,” Keith huffed. But his tone was light enough that Lance knew he wasn’t really offended.

 

“Anyways. Yes. They know you’re coming. I will warn you, my Abuelita makes a LOT of food, and she _will_ force-feed you if she sees you not eating enough.”

 

Keith looked confused.

 

“My Abuelita is my grandma?”

 

“Oh. Right. Well what if I get full?”

 

 “Just pretend? S’what I always do.”

 

“Wow.”

~~

 

Like the man beside him, Lance felt himself become more and more anxious the closer they got to Edgewater. He hadn’t seen his family in months since last Christmas, and he’d barely had any time to spend with them, what with being bogged down with homework. His final year of studies had been _grueling_ , but so incredibly worth it. His family had done their best to support him from afar, but Lance had still missed them terribly. Homesickness was something he had been unsuccessful in shaking while in New York.

 

“Oh man _oh maaaan_ the next street is it! Finally!” He was bouncing slightly in his seat, making Keith snort in amusement.

 

They made the turn onto the street, and Lance shrieked with delight, startling Keith. Lance was gesturing wildly with one hand, pointing at a large group of people about a block away.

 

“There they are! Oh my god, Keith! I’m so excited!”

 

Keith swallowed past a dry throat, eyes widening. There must have been fifteen people, maybe more, clustered all around a large house. People of all shapes and sizes and ages, two of the younger ones starting to run towards the truck. Lance whooped in excitement, laughing as he saw an older lady grab at the shirts of both the little boy and girl, stopping them from running into the road.

 

“I’m glad you came with me, Keith, this is gonna be awesome,” Lance said warmly, glancing at Keith. The other man returned a shaky smile. “They’re gonna love you.”

 

The two children ran towards the truck, jumping up and down, smiles stretching their faces wide, shouting “Lance! Uncle Lance!”

 

Laughing, Lance put the truck in park and shut it off. “Nadia! Sylvio! Oh man you’re both so big now!”

 

“You look the same!” Sylvio shouted, giggling.

 

Lance laughed, hopping down. He ruffled his nephew’s hair. “Yeah well little buddy, adults don’t really change much.”

 

The little girl, Nadia, clung to Lance’s leg, beaming up at him, and Sylvio ran back to his mother Lisa.

 

Veronica approached and quirked her eyebrow at the bed of the truck. “Nice new ride, Lance,” she drawled, crossing her arms.

 

An older woman approached, who, Keith noticed, looked shockingly like Lance. “Aaaah mijo!! Come here to mama!”

 

The group of people laughed and cheered as Lance and his mother shared a hug. Behind them, Keith hopped out of the truck, hanging back with a nervous smile, feeling very unsure of his role in this massive group of happy people.

 

After a few seconds, Lance’s mother pushed her son away, her face stern, eyes searching. “Now, where’s that man of yours?”

 

Lance’s face heated and he scratched the back of his head sheepishly. He turned around and spotted Keith, and immediately stifled a laugh at how awkward the other man looked.

 

Another woman in the back whispered with exaggerated volume, “Oh my God he’s hot, no wonder Lance picked him up!”

 

Lance groaned in mortification. “Rachel! Geez!”

 

“Uh, hi, I’m Keith,” he stepped forward, holding out his hand, fully aware that every single pair of eyes in the intimidatingly large group was now trained on him and his interaction with Lance’s mother.

 

“I’m Anita,” she smiled back at him. Ignoring the hand shake, she pulled Keith into a hug.

 

Lance laughed at how wide Keith’s eyes became. “Dude, if you hug her back, you’re in,” he whispered.

 

After a beat, Keith returned the hug, wrapping his arms around possibly the sturdiest woman he’d ever met.

 

They parted, Anita wearing a warm smile, eyes searching Keith’s slightly shell-shocked face. She laughed. “Mijo, he _is_ pretty!”

 

Keith was still slightly astonished at the general happenings as he exchanged a strong handshake with Lance’s father, trying to not be swept up in how fast his life was changing.

 

~~

Lunch was a loud affair. So many voices shouting happy memories, sharing stories of the past and of recent events, all to fulfill Lance’s need to catch up with every member of his family. Sylvo and Nadia clung to their Uncle’s legs for almost the entire afternoon, which he did not seem to mind in the slightest; he constantly returned their beaming smiles, ruffling their hair.

 

Keith blinked down at his plate, eyes still wide at _how much food_ he’d been given. There was _no way_ he was going to be able to eat it all.

 

Beside him, Lance snorted with amusement, shooting a wink at his alarmed guest. “I did warn you, dude. Just keep it like, half full of food, and she should stay away.”

 

“Should?”

 

Lance shrugged. “Depends on her mood?”

 

“Real comforting.”

 

Luckily though, the food was _delicious_.

 

~~

 

Sometime mid-afternoon, two more guests show up at the McClain household. The two newcomers blended in with the crowd in the backyard, having not had even bothered with the doorbell.

 

“Lance! Your friends are here!” Veronica called, cutting off Lance in the middle of a story about that one time he’d gotten locked out of his dorm.

 

His face split into a wide grin, followed by a bubble of laughter. “Oh my god!!” He ran over to his guests,  immediately being enveloped in a group hug. “Pidge! Hunk! Oh man! It’s been too long!”

 

Hunk was carrying a tray of freshly baked macaroons. He raised his eyebrows at the huge table almost buckling with the weight of food. “Gee, I guess these weren’t needed, huh?”

 

Lance gasped in mock outrage. He snatched two macaroons right off the tray and moaned happily. “No way dude, your baking is _always_ needed!” He then snatched the entire tray from Hunk, cradling it possessively against his chest. “Mine.”

 

Still chewing on the sweet treat, Lance nudged Pidge with his elbow. “I think you grew an inch, Pidge!” He narrowed his eyes, seeming to make a more calculated observation. “Or maybe like, a centimeter!”

 

“Oh haha, very funny.” Pidge rolled their eyes, corners of their mouth twitching up. “It’s good to see you, buddy.”

 

“Lance, oh man, Pidge has made SO many cool upgrades to the aquarium since you’ve seen it! Like,  this new interfacing on the paneling at the guest center –“

 

Pidge cut in, bouncing on their heels. “Yeah! Yeah and I’m also making designs for a robot! A freakin’ robot, Lance!”

 

“Why do you need a robot at the aquarium?”

 

Both Pidge and Hunk shared a glance, which directly translated to _“Oh this poor misguided soul.”_

 

Back at the table, Veronica sidled up to Keith, who had been watching the interaction silently. “Why don’t you join him over there?”

 

Keith shrugged. “Don’t wanna intrude on what looks like an important reunion.”

 

Veronica waved a hand in the air. “Naaah, it’ll be fine. I can tell my brother really likes you. He loves introducing his people to other important people,” she winked.

 

Except that, Keith always felt… extremely awkward just walking up to people already in a conversation? He was sure to interrupt someone’s flow, and then their energy would be all off, and it’d be all Keith’s fault. He hated being a social burden. He –

 

Veronica nudged him in the side, interrupting his own thoughts. “Seriously, it’ll be okay. I think he wants you over there. Look, he keeps glancing over to us.”

 

It was true – they both caught it that time – a flash of blue as Lance’s eyes met both of theirs. Veronica snorted with amusement as Lance’s face flushed with embarrassment at being caught.

 

“Pfft, yeah, he eyes are practically shouting for you. Please go and put my brother out of his misery.” She started poking Keith in his side, pushing in forward.

 

“Okay okay!” He laughed, putting down his drink. “I’m going.”

 

Keith was met with a friendly smile from the larger guest, and a strangely devious smirk from the shorter friend.

 

“Uh, hi, my name’s Keith,” he mumbled, his hand doing an aborted waving motion.

 

Lance’s eyes crinkled with blatant adoration. This man was way too awkward, someone help him.

 

The taller of the three stuck out his hand enthusiastically. “Hi Keith! I’m Hunk!”

 

“Otherwise known as the baker sent from Heaven,” Lance added reverently, popping a fourth macaroon into his mouth and moaning in appreciation.

 

“And I’m Pidge,” they greeted. “I don’t do handshakes.”

 

“Uh, cool,” Keith nodded. “Hello.”

 

Pidge snorted, eyeing Keith up and down through their glasses. “Oh my god Lance, where did you find this guy? He’s like, straight from MCR’s reunion band.”

 

Keith perked up. “Wait what? They’re back together?”

 

Pidge burst out laughing and leaned on Hunk, who appeared conflicted between amusement and sympathy. “Oh man! No! It was a joke, dude!”

 

“I think you broke his heart,” Lance whined. He wrapped his free arm around an obviously confused Keith. “So yeah these are my best friends.”

 

“Oh, the ones from the aquarium?”

 

Lance beamed and look impressed. “Yeah! Good memory!”

 

Hunk cooed. “Aaw, Lance, did you tell him about us?”

 

“We had a LOT of time to talk. Three hour traffic jam. It was a killer.”

 

Pidge snorted again. “Well apparently it wasn’t all bad. And I highly doubt all you did was talking – especially last night – “

 

Keith wanted to evaporate. Or combust. Or something. Luckily his dignity was graciously saved by Lance’s mother announcing dessert and calling everyone back to the table.

 

Hunk was trying to do damage control as Lance attempted to defend his and Keith’s honour against a verbally cut-throat Pidge. Keith walked back to the table as fast as he could, face burning red.

 

He sidled back up to Veronica (he liked her). “Well, that went horribly.”

 

“Oh come on, you’re so dramatic. Pidge only makes fun of people they know can take it. It’s how they show affection.”

 

~~

 

Lunch-time eventually bled over into dinner-time. Family members and guests alike were reluctant to leave the bubbly and happy atmosphere at the McClain household. Laughter, reminiscing, children’s games and adult gossip kept everyone in the vicinity more than entertained. Anita at some point announced unofficially that the hour of eating sweet food had again come, and she dished out homemade lemon cakes and caramel ice cream. Dessert had eventually ended, and with it the adrenaline-fueled energy of meal-time. The youngest were sleepily nodding off into their parent’s sides, the adults speaking in quieter tones, sipping at their tea and other hot beverages.

 

Keith had taken his chance to slip away from the party, feeling desperate for some time alone. Being around that many people, for that length of time, had always exhausted him. 

 

He circled the house back to the front, no specific goal in mind other than finding some peace and quiet. Dusk had begun, some stars weakly shining through the air pollution of Miami. Keith allowed himself a few moments to stare up at the night’s sky, wondering what space was truly like. Probably the ultimate source of peace and quiet, he mused.

 

Keith took in his surroundings and noticed that he was near the garage. The open garage. A warmth spread through his tired body – an open garage meant mechanical things, and those, Keith knew what to do with – knew how to understand and interact with. Smiling with relief, he walked into the dimly lit space, immediately spotting an old car. The hood was popped open, practically inviting Keith in.

 

“Well hello there,” he murmured, gloved hand resting gently on the body.

 

~~

“Hey, has anyone seen Keith?” Lance peered around in the dying light.

 

“You mean emo dude?” Pidge smirked, pushing up their glasses.

 

“Ha ha Pidge,” he said dryly. “Yes. That guy.”

 

“Your boooooyfriend,” Hunk chimed in with a sing-song voice.

 

“After like, only one day,” Pidge added. “What are you, a Disney Princess? Yeesh.”

 

The family members in the immediate vicinity started chuckling. Lance rolled his eyes and got up from the table. “Why I hang out with you two, I’ll never know.”

 

Hunk sighed deeply. “It’s for my baking. You don’t have to pretend.”

 

Pidge rubbed his arm in mock sympathy.

 

“Real helpful,” Lance grumbled.

 

“He’s probably in the garage,” Veronica offered to an increasingly agitated Lance. “Didn’t you say he was a mechanic?”

 

“Oh. Cool. I’ll go check there. Thanks, sis.”

 

~~

“That car’s been busted for months,” Lance commented.

 

Keith jumped up, crying out in surprise. He retracted his hands from the engine area, heart beating in his throat.

 

“Jesus Lance! Don’t do that!”

 

“Aaah, sorry! Sorry,” he walked from the entrance fully into the garage, joining Keith at the open hood of the car. “Didn’t mean to startle you.”

 

Keith huffed out a sigh. “S’okay.”

 

“You alright?” Lance didn’t like the feeling of tension in the air – he wasn’t sure if Keith was still getting over being surprised, or if he had done something to offend the man.

 

Keith turned fully to face Lance, seeing the blatant concern leaking from his eyes. His face was so expressive. _Maybe he can emote for the both of us_. Keith shrugged. “Yeah. I mean, it’s just – it was a lot of people. All at once. And. I’m like, really awkward? Around people?”

 

Lance breathed out a sigh of relief – he’d been suspecting something along those lines. “Yeah, I feel kinda bad dragging you along.”

 

“Nah, it’s okay. I agreed.” Keith smiled. “The food made it worth it.”

 

Lance laughed, pretending to be wounded. “You’re just using me for a free meal! Keith, you’re breaking my heart!”

 

Keith chuckled softly, eyebrows raised in amusement. “Your family’s pretty nice too, I guess.”

 

Lance shrugged with exaggerated aloofness. “They’re decent, yeah.” He subconsciously inched closer to Keith, standing inches away. “So, find anything obvious?”

 

It took Keith a few seconds to even register what his companion had said; Lance was standing so close that Keith could feel the heat radiating from his body, making his own body heat up slightly, giving his heart a gentle reminder that he felt something for this man, giving his mind a flashback to the night previous. He cleared his throat and shook his head.

 

“Nah, not yet. There are probably a few things wrong, old model like this one. Like, the grounders are really dirty – those connections around the engine there – and when was the last time the spark plugs were replaced? That’s a pretty common default problem. Also the belt is cracking. Maybe something wrong with the crank shaft too, hm, but then he probably would have noticed that when starting it up, and then the starter would be broken too –“

 

Keith realized that Lance was staring at him a bit blankly, eyebrows raised in confusion. “Yeah man, you lost me. I know nada about cars.”

 

“Fair enough. I bet I could get it fixed up though. Might not be cheap, but yeah I can do it.”

 

“Really? My Pa would really appreciate that! Hey, he could be your first client at your new job!”

 

Keith shrugged. “Sure. Don’t see why not.”

 

Lance clapped him on the shoulder. “Awesome! Thanks!”

 

And suddenly there was nothing else to talk about – in Keith’s opinion anyways. Lance’s hand lingered on Keith’s shoulder, then sliding down slightly to curl around his upper arm. He stepped closer to Keith, and they both faced each other.

 

“Um, can… can I kiss you?” Lance murmured, peering into Keith’s eyes.

 

In reply Keith inched closer, their lips hovering a hair from each other,  his heart beating frantically in his chest. “Yeah,” he exhaled, _excited, yearning –_

 

“YO LOVE BIRDS!”

 

They jolted apart, shock making them both cry out this time. “Goddamnit not again,” Keith huffed.

 

“PIDGE WHAT THE FUCK!” Lance rubbed a hand over his face, massaging away the dismay at the interruption.

 

Hunk appeared in the doorway beside Pidge, looking apologetic. “Sorry man, I tried to stop them.”

 

“We were having a BONDING MOMENT!”

 

“Oh, is that what the kids are calling it these days?”

 

“Pidge I am older than you! By like, a lot!”

 

“Whatever!! Anyways, people are starting to leave, so get your ass out here to say goodbye!”

 

Ever the dramatic, Lance sighed extra loudly and made his way out of the garage. He paused at the doorway, looking back at Keith. “You coming?”

 

Keith shrugged and smiled. “Sure.” He didn’t want to be disrespectful or anything, since Lance’s extended family had already practically adopted him.

 

~~

 

It was the quiet time after all the meals had finished and all the guests have left. Keith and Lance stood in the kitchen with Anita, her husband, and Veronica. The others had all left to their respective homes, and the youngest of Lance’s siblings had gone to bed.

 

“So, Keith, you have a job lined up here in Miami?”

 

Keith internally groaned. Small-talk with the father of his – what? Boyfriend? That word felt so weird to even think, much less say out loud - boyfriend, sure – was the last thing Keith wanted to end his evening with.

 

All eyes were on him. He shifted on his feet and cleared the anxiety out of his throat. “Uh, yeah, at Coran’s – um, a garage in the next town.”

 

“Ah, a mechanic! Very useful,” the man nodded, clearly approving.

 

“You found a keeper, Lance,” Veronica said, half-smirking.

 

“Yeah Dad! He was looking at your old car in the garage, y’know, the one that’s been broken for like, years!”

 

Keith nodded, finally feeling comfortable with the avenue of conversation. “Yeah – um, you know, I could take a look at it in the shop if you want?”

 

Anita beamed at her husband as he nodded greatfully. “That would be much appreciated, son. I’ve been meaning to fix that ol’ beater up for a while now – just never got around to it.”

 

Veronica smiled at the four of them.

 

In the middle of a sympathetic nod Keith yawned. A bone-shaking wide thing that stretched his whole face and almost popped his jaw.

 

Lance laughed in his chest and gently touched his pinky to the side of Keith’s hand, adoring the man even deeper. “Okay, hint taken. We’re going to get outta here, I think.”

 

“You’re not staying the night?” Anita frowned, glancing in between both young men.

 

“Do you really want them to?” Veronica snorted quietly, from where she stood washing a mug at the sink.

 

“Veronica! That’s no way to talk about your brother!” Anita admonished.

 

“I wanted to check out my new place, actually,” Lance interjected. He eyed Keith. “And, uh, do you want to come with me?” He asked quietly, in plain sight of his parents.

 

His face on fire, Keith shrugged and nodded. “Sure.” He adamantly refused to meet eye contact with anyone in the room, especially a smirking Veronica.

 

~~

Lance bit his lip as he keyed open the lock in his apartment door. Keith was standing _so close_ – flashes of their shared intimacy from the night before went off in his mind, making his heart thump in his chest, making his stomach warm.

 

“So, uh, I haven’t really been here yet? Luis and Veronica said they dropped off some stuff, like some furniture and stuff like that, and made sure it was tidy though.”

 

Keith nodded, unconcerned. “It’s cool.”

 

Lance smiled, hoping he looked more confident than he felt, and pushed open the door.

 

It looked much like the photos online had advertised. A small foyer lead into a spacious main space, a decent couch already set up, a large window in the far wall leading out to a spacious balcony, letting in Miami’s street-lighting to bounce around the space. Off to the left side was a small kitchen. There were several boxes already in the main room, waiting to be unpacked.

 

Both men entered the foyer, peering around. Lance let out a sigh of relief. “It’s nice!”

 

Keith snorted. “What were you expecting?”

 

“Pssh, I dunno! These places hardly ever look as nice as they do online.” He closed the door behind them, kicking off his shoes.

 

“Yeah, fair enough.”

 

He immediately went to find the bedroom, which was at the end of a small L-shaped hallway off the kitchen. Thankfully, there was already a double bed set up in the room, courtesy of his mother, bless her.

 

Keith wandered into the kitchen, opening cupboards at random, unsurprisingly finding nothing.

 

Lance came back to the kitchen, pausing in the doorway, staring at Keith, who looked oddly comfortable in his space. It was so _domestic_ , and Lance’s heart swelled at it.

 

Smiling broadly, Lance took a few steps closer to Keith. “Do you want to go for a walk on the beach?”

 

Keith glanced quickly at the digital clock in over the oven. _9:06PM._

 

Missing nothing, Lance said, “Just a short walk. Then we can come back here. And, uh, sleep, and stuff.”

 

“I like the sounds of the “and stuff”,” Keith said dryly. “Very enticing.”

 

“Ugh! Whatever man! You know what I meant!”

 

Following Lance to the front door, Keith laughed. “So romantic!”

 

The five minute walk to the beach was spent in a familiar pattern; Lance talking Keith’s ear off, and Keith’s mouth hurting from smiling. There were few other people outside, it being a Tuesday night. The last of the daylight had faded away, allowing more stars to shine through the atmosphere. It was a lovely evening.

 

“So, I mean, how did you like them? My family?”

 

Lance peered at Keith, emotion openly showing on his face, clearly eager for Keith to give a positive opinion. Luckily, Keith did not feel any need to crush the man’s dreams.

 

But, just to play a bit…

 

“Hmmm, I don’t know…” Keith paused, sighing dramatically and looking up at the night sky.

 

Lance made a wounded noise. “Come on man, I’m dying here!”

 

Keith smirked and put his arm around the shorter man, bringing him closer, causing Lance to miss a step slightly. “In all seriousness, it was pretty overwhelming.”

 

“Oh, uh, sorry – “

 

“But it was nice. They’re really nice.”

 

Lance gave him a soft smile. “Really?”

 

The two of them somewhat awkwardly kept walking, their balance slightly off due to the height difference. Lance wrapped his arm around Keith’s waist, trying to equalise. They both started giggling, basking in the surreal feeling of the night.

 

Soft sounds of ocean waves slipping against the sand greeted them at the beach. Lance slipped away from Keith, a pure sound of joy erupting from his throat. Laughing freely, he ran straight to the water’s edge, kicking off his flip-flops behind him to land in the sand. He stood in the shallow water, letting the tide lap at his feet. His head fell back and his face relaxed in bliss.

 

“Oh my God I missed this,” he sighed happily. “I know you’re not a beach man Keith, but man, this is the stuff.”

 

A few feet away from Lance, Keith remained on the dry sand, reluctant to deal with the consequences of wet sand in his trainers later. No matter how enticing Lance made it look to stand in the ocean.

 

After another minute, Lance smiled at Keith, cocking his head to the side. “Not gonna join me?”

 

Keith shook his head. “Nah.”

 

Lance’s eyes narrowed at Keith playfully, and he raised his arms, wiggling his fingers at the other man.

 

“No, oh no, nope, don’t even think about it Lance,” Keith started backing away. “You are _not_ dragging me in there! I have socks on!”

 

“Oh come on, live a little!”

 

“I’m enjoying my life just fine where it’s dry, thanks!”

 

Lance let his arms fall and pouted. “Aw, you’re no fun.” His pout switched into a soft smile as he stared down the expanse of unpopulated beach. “Do you want to go on a walk? I’ll walk in the water and you can walk on the sand?” He left the water temporarily to grab his flip-flops.

 

A walk Keith could do. And he wanted to snort at how cliché this all was – a romantic walk on the beach – and he could tell that Lance was just _itching_ to say something about it too – but the whole situation was _too_ perfect, too calm and comfortable, and Keith suddenly fully appreciated _why_ so many dating tropes involved walks on the beach. The soothing sound of the water caressing the shore, the moon and stars up above, and the night all to themselves – it really was the most romantic evening Keith had ever had. But more so than that, was the sheer joy on his companion’s face at just walking in the water. Keith found almost more enjoyment in just watching Lance as he traipsed in the water, sandals in hand.

 

Eventually the two reached a natural turning point. Without saying anything, Lance wrapped his arms around Keith’s waist, pulling him in close. Their eyes met as Lance cupped Keith’s face, asking silently to kiss him. Keith answered by making their lips meet.

 

 

~~

 

Lance landed on the bed with his back, exhaling into Keith’s open mouth. He simultaneously dragged his fingernails through Keith’s thick hair and opened his legs wide, letting the other man fall onto his groin, making them both moan at the friction. It was so good even with their pants still on. Warmth pooled in Lance’s groin and it almost scared him how much he _wanted_ Keith.

 

Keith broke from the kiss and pushed Lance’s head to the side, exposing his neck, making Lance whine in anticipation.

 

“God, been wanting to bite you, lick you, all day long.” Keith dipped down to nose at the smooth skin. He inhaled deeply, his mouth watering at the musky scent. “Smell so good.”

 

A needy whimper escaped Lance and he stretched his head further to the side. “Yeah, yeah lick me, bite me, please,” he groaned. He raked his fingernails down Keith’s bare back, urging him on.

 

Keith let his mouth open on Lance’s clavicle, his tongue falling against the hot skin, moved his way around Lance’s neck and chest, kissing and biting, sinking his teeth into the juncture of his neck and shoulder, sucking at his nipples, _marking_ him. Lance moaned continually, loving the sensation.

 

An intense urge to bite as _hard as he could_ stole over Keith – his jaw aching to clamp down – and he whimpered, pausing, his mouth open wide on Lance’s neck, drool pooling on the skin.

 

“K-Keith,” Lance panted, swallowed, waiting –

 

Keith whined around the flesh in his mouth, _needing_ to bite down. He hugged Lance tightly and, after another second’s hesitation, gave into the urge.

 

Lance cried out in what could have been pain, and Keith felt the nails on his back dig in hard.

 

Beneath his tongue Keith could feel the pulse in Lance’s neck. He panted against Lance, giving one last squeeze of his teeth before the ache in his jaw broke, the powerful urge satisfied.

 

He unlatched his mouth, tension releasing from both of their bodies. Keith winced quietly at the incredible bruise he’d left behind, He bent back down and gently licked at the bite mark, hopefully soothing it a bit.

 

“Sorry,” Keith muttered. “I, um, my mouth sometimes – “

 

“No no, it felt really good,” Lance breathlessly cut him off.

 

“Really?”

 

Lance proved how good it felt by urging his hips up, thrusting his erection into Keith.

 

“Do – do you want to..?”

 

After a beat, Lance bit his lip and nodded. “Yeah.”

 

Keith moved off of Lance, heart pounding hard in his chest with nerves. Before… having sex with people didn’t mean as much, and it was almost overwhelming Keith how much he wanted to do this _perfectly_ with Lance – and that was stupid, because there was _no_ such thing as perfect sex. This person had somehow become so important to him in such a relatively short period of time, and that connection made everything more intense. “Um, how do you – usually – uh…” Apparently it also made his mouth stop working correctly.

 

Lance leaned up with his elbows and kissed Keith, cutting off his stumbling. “You can fuck me,” he whispered.

 

And whatever blood was left in Keith’s brain promptly raced downwards. “Uuhh…” He stared at the other man, wide-eyed, more turned on than he’d thought would be possible.

 

Lance huffed a laugh. “Shit man, I think I broke you.” He winked at Keith and left the bed to go into the bathroom. “I have stuff with me, thankfully.”

 

And that was a fucking relief, Keith thought, because he certainly hadn’t prepared for this. He hadn’t assumed that, after taking a road trip across state, he’d be sleeping with anyone for at least a few months, much less before he’d even reached his destination. He undid his pants and shed them to the floor, sitting now his boxers.

 

Lance returned to the bed, dipping down on the mattress to kneel next to Keith. He put the condoms and lube on the bedside table, then in one smooth movement removed both his pants and boxers.

 

Keith moved to grope his hands along Lance’s tan thighs, marveling just at the act of freely touching him. “Is there any way you prefer? Or, uh, something you really like?” Leaning in closer, he nosed along Lance’s jaw and neck.

 

He felt Lance shudder beneath him. “Okay, first off, it’s _stupidly_ hot that you asked that. Totally a turn on.” He brought his hands up to embrace Keith, rubbing his hands up and down, landing to cup at his ass. “Secondly. Yes. I, uh…” Lance paused and cleared his throat. Keith backed away so that he could see the man’s face, never one to miss the adorable blush sure to be flushing his cheeks. “I really wanna ride you.”

 

Keith nearly choked on his spit. “Uh, yep, yeah we can do that,” _holy shit holy shit holy shit_ His brain was immediately flooding him with images of flushed, sweaty tanned skin above him, toned arms on either side of his face, hips moving up and down and – and if he thought about it anymore everything was going to be over embarrassingly quickly.

 

Noticing Keith’s excitement, Lance smirked and moved in to press a kiss to Keith’s neck. He then moved to straddle Keith’s thighs, which were pressed together. Keith whimpered at the sight of their unconcealed arousal. _Brown against pink never looked so good._ Their breaths fell heavy past parted lips.

 

The next thing Lance suggested nearly did Keith in.

 

“But first I want you to tease me with your dick,” he whispered against pale skin.

 

“W-what?” Keith brought his trembling hands up to embrace Lance. “Like – like how do you mean?”

 

Hot kisses trailed down Keith’s blushing chest. “It’s my favourite thing. Like, foreplay, but more intense.”

 

With the few lovers Keith had had in the past, foreplay hadn’t really ever been a thing. He had never cared enough to work up the mood. He’d never been comfortable enough with a partner before to do anything other than a quick fuck. It had felt unnecessary to make it anything more. And with Lance, with this _unbelievably sexy_ man now writhing in his lap, that pattern was about to be deliciously broken.

 

“I, uh, I’ve never really done foreplay, so, um, I might be bad at it?” His sentence ended in a breathy moan when Lance wrapped a hand around Keith’s cock.

 

Lance laughed quietly. “What do you think last night was?” Lance leaned back away from Keith to grab behind him for the lube. He gave Keith a fond smile. “And I dunno about you, but I had a great time.”

 

The tight anxiety in Keith’s chest unfurled at that. That was true. Last night had been surprisingly comfortable for Keith. He sucked in a breath and returned Lance’s smile. “It was nice, yeah. Okay.” He watched as Lance dribbled lube onto his fingers, eyes distracted by his cock standing proud between his legs. “So, what – um, do you usually like to prep yourself? Or -”

 

And his question was answered for him as Lance, smirking at Keith again (was the man _trying_ to make Keith’s heart skip? Seriously), reached behind himself.

 

“I got it,” he exhaled, eyes closed in what looked like bliss. He opened one eye. “Unless you wanna do it?”

 

Keith used more will-power than he thought he possessed to shake his head. He wanted to last long enough to actually have his cock inside Lance. He felt like a freakin’ teenager again. _This is crazy._ “You, uh, look like you have it covered.”

 

“Like to watch?” Smirk still in place, Lance rose up to kneeling, giving Keith more of a view of his fingers, one of which was slid home. And Keith could _hear_ the wet sounds of his long finger thrusting in and out of him, coinciding with Lance’s louder breathing.

 

Keith clenched the sheets in his hands to keep from touching himself or Lance, honing all of his senses in on just _watching_ the man prepare for him. It was indescribably hot. He’d sometimes heard his friends in the past talk up foreplay, and stretching the experience out, and had never really seen the point; tonight was going to change all of that. Lance had _ruined_ him in the _best_ way possible.

 

“Two,” Lance mumbled. He groaned when his middle finger joined his index. His other hand pawed at Keith’s leg beside his knee. “Ah, fuck, this is… haven’t done it in a while, it’s,” his cracking voice broke off in a low moan.

 

“You usually top?”

 

Lance shook his head, biting his lip as he thrust back on his fingers. “Nah. Well, sometimes. It’s been – been a while for both.” He sucked in a breath, eyebrows furrowing. “Student life, y’know.”

 

“Fuck, Lance, please – I don’t think I can – are you ready yet?” Keith rose up on his knees to meet Lance for a wet, open-mouthed kiss. He was practically shaking with need, a deep ache in his gut to replace Lance’s fingers. He roughly threaded his fingers through Lance’s short brown hair, making him groan.

 

Panting, Lance broke away. “Y-yeah, but, um, can you –“

 

“Tease you?”

 

A low moan of appreciation grated out of Lance’s throat that made Keith’s blood heat up.

 

“H-how?”

 

Keith had a second to see Lance’s face turn red before the man turned around on the bed, leaning down on his forearms and spreading his legs slightly, back arched, moving his ass backwards into Keith’s crotch.

 

“Oh,” Keith’s voice was faint with shocked pleasure. He grabbed Lance’s hips harshly, fingers digging into the meat of his ass. He squeezed his eyes shut, actively fighting the desire to grab a condom and shove his dick inside Lance. This is what he wanted, and Keith would make it good for him, no matter how impatient he was. “L-let me know when you want – “

 

“Y-yeah I will, just – please,” He pushed back and groaned almost helplessly when he felt the tip of Keith’s erection nudge his entrance. God he loved just feeling the physical promise of what was coming – the kiss of a hot dick against his hole, knowing the owner was just as eager as he was, and judging from the aggressive fingers digging into his ass and barely concealed shuddering in his thighs, Lance was guessing Keith was _very_ eager for it. That made Lance feel fucking _good_.

 

Lance’s forehead fell weakly against his forearms, the pleasure stealing his energy. He could hear Keith breathing heavily behind him, could feel his thighs shuddering.

 

With one hand on Lance’s hip, Keith slowly slid his cock up and down against Lance’s hole, smearing the lube with his movements. The build-up was making him more turned on that he would have ever thought.

 

After a minute of that, Keith started moving his hips in circles, pivoting from where the tip of his cock had moved inside of Lance. Lance could feel Keith trembling behind him, clearly wanting to press forward, but he didn’t – he withdrew, almost whimpering with the effort, and then pressed forward again, this time harder than before. He pulled back again, almost sobbing out-right, and Lance could not believe how turned he was getting just from Keith’s show of self-control; which was slipping, if the particularly hard nudge that came next was anything to go by. And the fact that Keith didn’t have a condom on didn’t even phase Lance – it should have – but right now it just made it all fucking hot.

 

Keith gasped as the head of his cock slipped into Lance. “S-sorry, I – I didn’t mean to –“

 

“It’s okay,” Lance panted. He was getting impatient for it too. He raised up on his left hand to grab the box of condoms. He threw them back towards Keith.

 

He heard Keith scramble for the box, heard the beautiful sound of the plastic being torn open. Lance stayed where he was, maybe now wanting Keith to just do him like this –

 

“Can I – at least to start off – just fuck you like this?”

 

“Yes, God please, just do it,” And Lance usually liked to be teased longer than this, but he had been eager for this ever since waking up that morning.

 

They both cried out in shared pleasure when Keith slid all the way in. It was incredible, how well they fit together.

 

“Oh my God,” Lance sobbed. “Sientes muy bien, fuck,”

 

Keith didn’t know what the second bit meant, but he figured it was something good judging from the almost reverent tone Lance had moaned it in. He wanted to bite himself to distract his body from coming, it was so good.

 

A hot slide, a quivering thrust backwards, a shaking pause, another hot slide. The body beneath him trembled and shuddered, responded to his every movement with a low moan, a deep inhale, a groaning exhale.

 

“Do you still, ah, want to ride – ride me?” Keith paused, buried deep, collapsing forwards a bit, focusing on calming his breathing.

 

An almost hysterical chuckle left Lance. “Next time. I’m so close I don’t want to change – just,” he clenched around Keith and Keith choked behind him, “go _harder_.”

 

Keith inhaled deeply before reaffirming his grip on Lance’s hips. On his exhale he pulled out, teased the entrance for half a second, then drove home _hard_. Hard, he could do. Lance cried out as Keith fucked him fast, making the bed creak, pulling whimpers and sobbing moans from both their throats.

 

“Yes, yes, okay, holy _shit_ , Keith!” A loud, drawn-out sob tore from Lance as he climaxed.

 

Keith followed a second after when he felt Lance clench around him, his entire body stiffening and his mouth opening in a silent cry.

 

It took them both a solid minute to regain normal breathing.

 

“Well, I’ve decided,” Lance sighed.

 

When he didn’t continue, Keith nudged him with an elbow. “Yeah? Decided what?”

 

Turning to look at Keith with a very serious face, Lance sighed again, pursing his lips. “I’ve decided that _that_ was way too good to not have happen again.”

 

Keith’s lips involuntarily moved into the smile that took his sluggish brain another few seconds to realize. “Y-yeah?”

 

Lance returned a soft smile. He turned on his side and pulled Keith in close, relishing in how comfortable it felt to snuggle Keith, sweaty as they were. “Yeah man. I…” He paused, swallowing audibly. “I, uh, I really like you, y’know?” He buried his flushed face in Keith’s neck.

 

Laughing softly under his breath, Keith returned the embrace. He threaded fingers through soft brown hair. “I really like you too.”

 

Lance laughed into Keith’s neck. “Wow, we sound like teenagers, my God.”

 

Keith sat up, rubbing at his flushed face. “I need to uh,” he gestured downwards where he was still wearing the condom. “I’ll be back.”

 

After a minute in the bathroom, Keith came back, settling in the bed next to Lance with a soft, contented sigh. The other man rolled onto him, snuggling into his chest with shocking familiarity.

 

They lay in a shared comfortable silence for a few minutes. It was broken when Lance yawned, his whole body shuddering with it.

 

“Tired?”

 

“It’s been a long day,” Lance murmured.

 

“Yup. Lots happened.” If Keith reflected on the day he was a bit blown away with how _much_ had happened, and consequently how much his life had really changed.

 

Lance peeled away from Keith, sitting up. “’Kay, I’m gonna grab us some water, and then we should sleep.” He froze, and then glanced back at Keith. “Um, I mean, if you wanna stay?” Keith said nothing in return, staring back at Lance. “Do – um, do you want to stay? Cuz you totally can, I mean – “

 

Keith took pity on him and smiled. “Lance, stop. Yes, I’ll stay. It’s a bit late to be going anywhere.”

 

“Phew, okay. Cool.” He rose from the bed, giving Keith quite a nice view of his backside, before he put on his boxers. “I’ll be right back.”

 

Keith let out a long exhale. That had all really just happened. That whole _day_ had really just… he’d met Lance’s family, and they’d accepted his weirdness, and had seemed to like him back? Well, Keith figured that half a day wasn’t really enough time to accurately judge someone’s character, so in the future they might not want Keith to be around – _no, stop thinking like that –_ Keith shook his head with a huff, stopping that harmful train of thought. Instead he imagined himself back at the McClain household, bantering with Veronica or playing with Sylvio and Nadia and – Keith inhaled deeply, closed his eyes, and rubbed at his chest. He was feeling… a lot of feelings. It was weird for him. He’d never invested so much, so quickly, into a relationship – or another person for that matter. It was… scary, and exciting. He smiled again as he heard Lance re-enter the bedroom.

 

“Oh man are you asleep?” Lance whispered, walking to the bed. He set down a glass of water on the bedside table.

 

“Nah. Just… reflecting.”

 

“Mm. Like, meditating?”

 

Keith opened one eye. “Well if I _had_ been, it would be ruined now.”

 

Lance rolled his eyes with a smile. “Pfft. The soothing sound of my voice only encourages meditation, dude.” He joined Keith in the bed.

 

Keith let out an “oof” as he was basically tackled by Lance’s arm as he snuggled up to his body. He brought his arms up to pull at Lance’s arm.

 

“Um, I can’t really sleep like this,” Keith said.

 

“Nah me neither. Just for a bit?” Lance nuzzled his face into Keith’s shoulder and the other man sighed in defeat.

 

“Sure.”

 

Another few moments of silence ticked by and Keith was almost asleep.

 

“What time do you need to be up tomorrow?” Lance murmured softly.

 

“Uh, dunno. It’s my last free day before the shop. So whenever really. Maybe by 10?”

 

“Cool.” Lance cut himself off with a yawn. “We could visit Hunk and Pidge at the aquarium after some breakfast.” Another yawn.

 

“Yeah sounds good.” Keith patted Lance’s arm before turning to his side. Immediately Lance moved into spoon Keith, making him smile. “Night.

 

“Have a good sleep,” Lance mumbled, halfway there himself.

 

~~

 

The casual, domestic morning-after was something Keith had never had the pleasure of experiencing before. He sat on the couch in the living room as Lance poured them both a glass of water. The morning sunlight streamed in from the window, opening up the space even more. Keith was stupidly happy.

 

“It’s a nice place,” he commented, accepting the glass of water from Lance.

 

“Yeah! I’m pretty happy with it. Rent’s not bad either.” He frowned and shrugged. “Though that’ll change if I can’t find a job soon.”

 

“Didn’t you mention something about working at the aquarium?”

 

Lance winked and gave him two finger guns. “Yet again good memory, my man! Yeah, actually, when we visit there today to see Hunk and Pidge I might ask around. Can’t hurt,” he shrugged. “So, what do you wanna do for breakfast? I don’t have anything here, but we could find something on the near the aquarium? The food there is stupidly over-priced so I wouldn’t recommend we actually eat there.”

 

“On the way is good.”

 

~~

They took Lance’s truck for the ten minute drive to the aquarium. They parked a few blocks away to avoid paying the steep fee, and grabbed breakfast paninis before walking the last few blocks to the attraction. When they got there, Keith stared in disbelief at the cheesy name of the place.

 

“Oh man. Seriously?” He balked openly as Lance outright laughed in glee beside him. “The King of Salt?*”

 

“I know right?! The owners can’t have possibly known how much of a meme “salt” would have become! It’s gold!”

 

“It’s… something alright,” Keith admitted.

 

Inside aquarium was quiet (as Lance pointed out, because Keith really had no previous experience to compare to), and really, it was a Wednesday at 11 in the morning, so the only other customers was a decently sized elementary school tour group.

 

After a few moments of waiting, Pidge and Hunk appeared, apparently in a deep discussion.

 

“No, Hunk, I’m sorry but you are totally wrong! The bullet shrimp is literally _the_ coolest animal on the planet!” They aggressively punched the air. “They can punch so hard they break water physics, Hunk!”

 

Lance snorted in amusement as the pair got closer, smiling at Pidge’s enthusiasm and Hunk’s façade of disinterest.

 

Hunk gave a dramatic sigh. “I dunno Pidge, I dunno if it beats the immortal jellyfish.”

 

Keith cut in. “Wait, the what? It’s immortal?”

 

Pidge rolled their eyes. “Immortality is so lame in comparison to a tiny demon shrimp that can see five times as many colours as we can I mean _what – “_

“Yes Keith,” Hunk interrupted loudly, physically pushing Pidge away, “it can live FOREVER.”

 

Lance widened his eyes dramatically at Keith. “Dude, do not get in the middle of a Garett versus Holt debate. You might die,” Lance warned gravely.

 

Pidge fumed, trying to push past Hunk back into the debate. “Hunk! It breaks water physics!”

 

“IMMORTALITY, PIDGE!”

 

“Hunk! Pidge! Weren’t we gonna show Keith around?”

 

Hunk immediately lost his demeanour of “I will argue until one of us dies” and beamed at Lance and Keith. “You’re lucky it’s a slow day, or else we’d have to keep working. But yeah! We can totally give you two a private tour. Keith, your first time here?”

 

“His first time in Miami, dude,” Lance answered for him.

 

Keith shrugged. “Haven’t even really been to an aquarium in a while either. Maybe since I was a little kid?” He’d never really been interested in submarine ecosystems, to be honest. Fish creeped him out.

 

“Well to be honest this aquarium is kind of lame, but they have some cool tech at least,” Pidge said, smirking. “And that is of course, all our doing.”

 

“Did you buy a day ticket yet?” Hunk nodded towards the kiosk.

 

Lance pouted at Hunk. “Aw come on man, can’t you give us free admission or something? Friends-of-employee discounts?” He grabbed at Hunk’s employee shirt. “Please man! I am a dying student!”

 

Pidge rolled their eyes. “Oh my god Keith good luck with this one. He’s always like this.”

 

The corners of Keith’s mouth twitched up and somehow he felt oddly lucky. “S’fine. I think it’s entertaining. Lots to make fun of anyways.”

 

Pidge looked between them, impressed, and whistled low. “Damn Lance, I think you finally found someone tough enough to deal with your bullshit! Congrats!”

 

“Yes yes Keith is truly a blessing, now are you gonna let us in for free or not?”

 

Keith felt his face heat up at the compliments, and as Hunk shot him a wink.

 

“Lance, you know as well as I do that I can’t do that. Just pay regular price like normal people!”

 

Lance let out a long dramatic sigh, shoulders slumping. He then turned back to Keith and grabbed at his hand, pouting back at his friends. “Fine Keith, let’s go pay admission into this overpriced aquarium –“

 

“Lance maybe since you might work here you should keep that to yourself –“

 

“Okay good point – yes, this very decently priced less than adequate aquarium – “

 

“How the hell is that better?”

 

They walked away from Pidge and Hunk towards the kiosk to purchase admission.

 

“Wow, where did Lance find this guy again? He’s so perfect for him? At least from what I can tell,” Pidge muttered at Hunk.

 

“I think they had some kind of traffic jam tango and then Keith ran out of gas and Lance rescued him?” Hunk sighed wistfully and clasped his hands together against his chest. “It’s so romantic!”

 

“Well damn, that’s gonna be quite the story to tell their kids someday.”

 

A few minutes later their party was again complete, Lance bouncing with excitement and explaining some of the exhibits to a smiling Keith.

 

“The shark exhibit is definitely the best – I mean I haven’t been in a few years but it – “ He paused and looked at his friends, wide-eyed with concern. “Wait, the shark exhibit is still here right?”

 

“Yeah! Of course! I would have told you if it wasn’t,” Hunk comforted.

 

“Besides, it’s like, our best profit-generator,” Pidge added.

 

Hunk pulled Lance aside, nodding to Pidge to take Keith on ahead to the exhibits.

 

“You need a job now right?”

 

Lance sighed and nodded. “Yeah. I was hoping there might be something here?”

 

Hunk brightened up and nodded enthusiastically. “Yes! Okay! I’ve been holding this in since you got back. There’s an opening for a research assistant on a project involving coastal shore rehab. With a professor here from the University of Miami. Does that sound like something – “

 

“YES! Oh my God Hunk yes!” Lance cried out in happiness and hugged Hunk closely, making the  other man let out an “oof” of surprise. Lance backed away and did a twirl in the air. “Holy crap, and here I was about to accept a freakin’ janitorial position if I needed to!”

 

“Don’t need to stoop so low, Mr PhD! I’ve already talked to him about you and he seems really amenable to it.”

 

“That is so rad! Thank you so much Hunk!”

 

Hunk laughed, basking in his friend’s happiness. “Awesome! Yeah I think it’ll work out. Professor Deakin is super friendly. And he realizes that PhD’s aren’t normally RAs, but at least it’s a start, right?”

 

“He’s already my favourite person,” Lance grinned, bouncing on the balls of his feet.

 

“Rude,” Hunk frowned, crossing his arms.

 

Laughing, Lance put his arm around Hunk’s shoulders. “Joking, joking. But seriously Hunk, you’re amazing. Thank you for setting that up.”

 

“No problem. We’ll work out the details later.” He glanced over at Pidge and Keith, who were standing near a giant tank filled with parrot fish. Pidge was apparently explaining something not _to_ but _at_ Keith, who was staring at the tank with trepidation. “Now let’s go rescue your boyfriend.”

 

Lance flushed happily as he smiled at Keith. “Do you like him?”

 

Hunk hummed and shrugged. “I mean, once you get over the mullet, he’s not too bad.”

 

“Oh man that mullet is ridiculous. I might have to cut it in his sleep.”

 

“Don’t lie to me, you love it.”

 

Lance’s eyes softened. “Don’t tell him that,” he said.

 

They started walking towards the other half of their party. “Oh yeah, and after this, we should say hi to your friend Shay at the marine geology exhibit!”

 

It was Hunk’s turn to flush. He nervously scratched the back of his head. “Um, yeah! Sure!”

 

Lance peered at Hunk with narrowed eyes. After a beat of strained silence he gasped loudly. “Oh my God. Oh my _God_!”

 

They were close enough that Pidge immediately turned away from the tank, ending her rant at Keith (who looked immensely relieved), and demanded “What?!”

 

Lance pointed at the still blushing Hunk. “Shay!!”

 

Immediately Pidge smirked. “Oh don’t worry Lance, I’ll fill you in. It is _good._ ”

 

Keith looked confused. “Shay?”

 

Pidge cackled evilly, Hunk groaned in embarrassment, and Lance wrapped his arm around Keith’s waist. “I think we’re gonna finally hear the ending we all deserve of the longest slow-burn romance story of life,” he explained.

 

Keith decided than that, aquarium aside, he _really_ enjoyed the company of these people.

 

~~ The Next Day ~~

 

“Lance, you really don’t have to drive me to garage,” Keith said, standing awkwardly at the door of Lance’s apartment. “I have my motorbike.”

 

Lance looked up from where he was tying his shoes. “I know! But I wanna see where my – my boyfriend works!” A blushed bloomed on his cheeks in his stutter, echoed on Keith’s cheeks at the word “boyfriend”. “Plus, your bike is still in the bed of my truck and the two of us aren’t strong enough to get it down.” Finishing his shoes, he stood up and beamed at Keith. “Aaand I really like spending time with you.” He winked at Keith and then grabbed his keys from a hook by the door.

 

“Well. Um. Okay then,” Keith mumbled. _Can’t argue with that._

 

“Should only be like a 10 minute drive I think,” Keith said as they left the apartment. “I checked on maps last night.”

 

“Cool,” Lance answered. “Ah good morning, Blue!” He gave his truck a solid pat before opening the driver’s side door.

 

Keith rose his eyebrows as he got into the truck. “Still can’t believe you named your truck.”

 

“Well _you_ should name your motorbike! Gives it more personality, y’know?” The engine started, a low rumbling filling the space.

 

“And name it what? Red?”

 

“Well, sure! Simple is best!”

 

Keith shrugged. After a beat he added: “I always thought blue and red went well together.”

 

Lance’s hands clenched on the steering wheel. “Dude. Do _not_ say extremely romantic shit like that while I am driving. Do you want to die?”

 

Snorting in amusement, Keith shook his head. “Just drive,” he laughed.

 

They made it maybe three blocks when Lance pulled to a stop. Because of a traffic jam.

 

“Are you _freakin’_ kidding me?” He glanced down at the clock – _8:03 AM_ – and cursed. “Oh man, I totally forgot about rush hour traffic?”

 

Keith winced. “Um, same.” Irregular work and travel hours would do that, he supposed.

 

“Damn. Well, you said this Coran guy is flexible with your hours?

 

“Um, from what Allura has told me about him, he can be pretty strict. But also lenient? I’m sure it’ll be fine. Just, yeah. It’ll be fine,” Keith trailed off, looking uncertain.

 

Lance smiled reassuringly and squeezed Keith’s shoulder. “Don’t worry, I’m an expert at navigating through jams like this now.”

 

“Congratulations. I’m sure that skill is what every resume is lacking.”

 

Lance pouted. “Pfft. Whatever man. This’ll probably not even last that long.”

 

“Well at least this time I’m not awkwardly stranded on the side of the road.”

 

“Waiting for your knight in shining armor to rescue you,” Lance smirked.

 

“That was probably the best thing to ever happen to me,” Keith admitted before his brain could stop him. He turned away from Lance to hide his tomato-red face. He heard Lance making a odd choking noise and turned to look.

 

“Dude,” Lance whispered. His eyes were tearing up and Keith internally panicked. “That’s. Um.” He cleared his throat and drove forward a bit, closing the opening gap. “I don’t – know what to say?”

 

Keith chuckled weakly. “I’ll have to tell Pidge I made you speechless.”

 

“They’ll never believe you.” Lance smiled at Keith then, and he tried to convey with his eyes how important this recent stranger had become to him. “I’ll always be glad I stopped to pick you up.”

 

Keith’s throat felt a bit cloggy as he stared back into those extremely blue eyes, heart thumping hard in his chest, glad he was already sitting down because probably if he’d been standing his knees would have failed him –

 

They both jumped a bit in their seats as a loud car horn blasted from behind them.

 

~~

 

Notes:

 

*It’s actually called “Kind of Salt Life Aquarium” but I changed it to make it more amusing lol.

  
Translations:

 

“Lancito! Que esta mal?” -> “Are you okay?”

“Si si, estoy bien!” -> “Yes yes I’m fine!"

“Cuidate!” -> “Stay safe!”

“Gracias! Te veo pronto!” -> "Thanks! I’ll see you soon!"

  _Oh dios mio mierde que demonios -_ >  _oh my god what the hell_  

“Hola Mama, si si – estoy bien” -> “Hey Mom, yes yes - I’m fine”

 “Sientes muy bien” -> “Feels so good”

 

 


End file.
